Basically a bunch of toll roads where you pay to use them, right? But paying every time you use the road will get expensive quick, so road companies will offer subscriptions so you can save money if you frequently use their roads. Some companies will bundle subscriptions from many road companies together so you'll only pay for one subscription instead of dozens. They might even offer discount if you use yearly subscription. Viola! Now you have road tax except paid to private companies.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

Yeah but to some people that sounds good. It confuses and frustrates me, like yeah I don’t like the government, but I also acknowledge that publicly run companies tend to be screwed over by legislators not by lack of profit motive. Say what you will about Amtrak, but if you’ve ever rode a train in the northeast corridor you understand that it’s a pretty good deal. And it encourages a more pro-social habit.

We’re facing catastrophes both ecological and social due to failure to govern. We could be doing fine, but we keep choosing as a country that instead of regulating and taxing and investing in things we want to make taxes into a dirty word, kneel at the feet of our corporate overlords. If we want our country to be worth living in we need to invest in it for real