Opinion: Those who use Calif. roads should pay to fix them
By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee
Dan Walters
When California was building what became a world-class network of freeways, highways and local roads after World War II, it relied on a simple financial tool called “user pays.”
Personal and commercial users of roadways paid for their construction and maintenance through fuel taxes, motor vehicle fees, bridge tolls and weight fees on trucks.
The system enjoyed wide public support because of its self-evident fairness, although there were occasional squabbles over how the money was being spent.