The important distinction is that gas taxes <i>could</i> pay for the whole thing: Federal, state, local...<p>3T miles driven a year, $90B in annual public spending. It works out to about a $0.60&#x2F;gallon cost. Even adding in a surtax for CO2 and other emissions, it wouldn&#x27;t represent a premium over gas prices of a few years ago that certainly didn&#x27;t destroy the system.<p>It&#x27;s just easier to pay for local roads with local property taxes. Everyone uses them even if they don&#x27;t have cars.<p>But most public transit systems could never imagine charging full fare to their riders. They&#x27;d go into a death spiral. AFAIK, most can&#x27;t even cover their maintenance costs, let alone capital expenditures.