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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
The road to repair Letter of the day
Re: How can we fill the $1.7-billion pothole? (Oct. 7). Four of your five solutions to funding road repair propose to raise additional revenue from the PST, property taxes or city assets. Why not send the bill where it belongs -- to the vehicles that the streets service and that create the wear and tear? Here are two ideas.
Why should homeowners be charged for maintaining streets that service vehicles? Manitoba Public Insurance maintains a database of registered vehicles and approximate values, which could provide a more appropriate property-tax base to help meet city street budgets.
Instead of sticking it to the general consumer, funding street repairs from fuel taxes puts the revenue focus on the vehicles that benefit in rough proportion to their use of the streets, while also incenting fuel efficiency.
We don't need a general revenue medicare-like solution for this sick patient. There are other ways to charge users than toll roads. And by choosing where we live and work and how we get around, we have some control over our share in the use and maintenance costs of city streets.
PETER MILLER
Winnipeg
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 12, 2010 A15
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