EMR is happy to announce that TRILO-G is now ready to ship. More on that soon but first a few observations – from the perspective of TRILO-G – on “The Case for a Floating Gas Tax” post and string:
Jim Bacon is right that each scale of human settlement pattern must support its fair share of roadways and other infrastructure to support citizen’s Mobility and Access. The problem is that there are more organic scales of human settlement than most citizens now recognize. For starters there are FAR more than the three that are now formerly recognized – 1.) nation-state, 2.)state / province, and 3.) municipal (aka, “local” – a Core Confusing Word).
Groveton illustrates this point very clearly: Groveton is right that he should not have to pay for his ‘last mile’ of Street since his Dooryard Agency (or Cluster Agency, depending on the number of Households / Enterprises / Institutions that pay for his Street – see GLOSSARY for capitalized words) already covers the cost of the roadway – note two caveats below.
What Groveton has not yet grasped is that his Dooryard (or Cluster) IS an Agency (aka, a unit of ‘government’ in the current governance structure – al be it dysfunctionally disconnected and isolated from the rest of the structure).
Two Caveats:
1.) The cost of the materials and labor to build maintain the Street must reflect the full cost of their application.
2.) Groveton (or his Dooryard / Cluster Agency) still has to pay a SubRegion or Regional fee for the air he pollutes and the runoff from the street. These impacts are now treated as externalities paid for by all citizens and indexed in environmental degradation. These might be covered by a intelligent fuel tax but they are not now. That is why there is a scramble to find money (as well as the political will) to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
Larry and Jim Bacon are right that in the future technology will monitor the full, true costs of vehicular movement – and almost everything else. In a complex, technologically-dependent society this is the ONLY way to determine and fairly allocate – not just location-variable costs but – ALL costs and maintain a ‘modern’ civilization that also relies on democratic governance and market economies.
Privacy advocates have not come to grips with reality:
Humans have not yet evolved far enough to be trusted with Privacy. Tiger Woods has demonstrated this axiom. Those who tout privacy are far more likely to be trying to hide information from spouse, Household, neighbors (at all scales) and the law. Those are the genes that got humans to this point but will not serve species survival well in the future.
The other reality related to almost every comment in the string is that humans do not do well at governing – or surveilling – via large Agencies. All the more reason for Fundamental Transformation to Governance structures based on the organic structure of human settlement with full disclosure, and sunshine at ALL scales.
Yes, this will slow down ‘growth’ which is exactly what humans need — ways to reduce consumption and inequity.
EMR
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