Great Britain will soon initiate a test program for tracking and charging drivers on certain high-traffic routes in England.

While some will worry about the privacy concerns raised by such a system, others may believe that this "pay-as-you-go" system is at least a step closer to a user fee, thus eliminating the subsidization that occurs in most government-run road systems (i.e. drivers and people who rarely, if ever, use a particular system are paying in taxes for that system, and subsidizing those who use it frequently.)

This is true, but must be considered with this caveat: while we agree that the drivers using the roads or train systems that are run by the government are often subsidized by those who do not use them, those costs are already higher than what the free market would charge, so everyone is getting burned. In addition, initiating this "pay-as-you-go" system will merely inspire the government planners to hire more bureaucrats, not decrease costs. Spending will RISE with more money coming into the program run by the government until spending exceeds income, and higher taxes and higher user fees are imposed.

Take a look at your city subway system. Rates increase frequently, despite taxes and despite charges for fares that are supposed to cover costs. You get subsidies along side supposed user fees, and the result is more spending and waste, and, in the long run, higher taxation and higher charges for the subway. Private companies have competitive incentives to be efficient, thus avoiding those increased charges and increased bureaucracy.

Here is the tale, from Angle-land:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=NNZPNOICN4SNJQFIQM...