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"If you want to get rich, build roads first."
But have you ever thought that this road to prosperity is paved to the end, whether it is your smooth road or my "burden"?
Amazing, the total mileage of highways in our country has exceeded 5.35 million kilometers, ranking first in the world!
This speed is comparable to riding a rocket.
But at the same time, a piece of news is like a basin of cold water, which has extinguished the excitement of many people: National Highway 205, the main artery connecting the north and south, actually has to be charged?
As soon as the news came out, netizens fryed.
"Even if you pay for highways, why do you charge for national highways?"
The current oil price is really too expensive, and the pressure of driving a fuel car is too great.
Although everyone is complaining, the matter of national highway fees is indeed not fabricated out of thin air.
Behind this, there is a game about roads, money and the future.
Does "Free Lunch" Really Exist?
The road fee is greasy
In the memory of many old drivers, the words "road maintenance fee" are not unfamiliar at all.
In the past, when I drove on the road, I had to pay a sum of money every year, saying that it was used to repair and maintain the road.
But how to collect this money and how to use it has always been a mystery.
Large trucks and small cars, the charging standards are different, and the payment is the same for those who run long distances and commute to work.
To put it bluntly, it's a confused account.
For a long time, the "road maintenance fee" has made everyone feel a headache. It wasn't until 2009 that the fuel tax reform came out, and it was like blowing a sigh of air on it, and finally dispersed that layer of gloom.
According to the idea at that time, the abolition of road maintenance fees and the introduction of fuel taxes would simplify the toll collection process on the one hand, and on the other hand, realize the fair principle of "use more and pay more, and use less and pay less".
I have to say that this idea was indeed "far-sighted" at the time.
Who would have thought that in just a dozen years, fuel tax reform would run into big trouble.
The first is the rise of new energy vehicles.
At the beginning, everyone didn't expect that electric cars would become popular so quickly.
In 2023, new energy vehicles will sell well, and the sales volume will almost exceed 10 million! Now more and more people choose to drive new energy vehicles, which is a major trend.
Electric cars don't need to burn oil, but the road still has to run.
Nowadays, many people drive electric vehicles without refueling, which makes the money for road maintenance much less all of a sudden!
In addition, in recent years, the country has invested heavily in infrastructure construction, the mileage of highways has been increasing, and the maintenance cost has also risen, reaching 600 billion yuan per year.
Now life is not good, the income is getting smaller and smaller, the expenses are getting bigger and bigger, and the local financial pressure is huge!
It seems that the resumption of the "road maintenance fee" is already something that has to be done.
"Robbing the rich and helping the poor" or "killing chickens and taking eggs"?
The battle of experts and car owners
Regarding the resurgence of "road maintenance fees", all parties have different opinions.
Many local governments are now quite short of money, and collecting some road maintenance fees may help them alleviate it.
But experts also warn that simple and brutal charges can lead to a number of problems.
For example, in order to save money, drivers may choose to take a detour, which not only increases transportation costs, but also can cause traffic congestion.
They suggested that instead of charging fees across the board, it would be better to develop a more scientific and reasonable differentiated charging policy.
For example, different charging standards are set according to factors such as vehicle type, displacement, and mileage, and classified charges are implemented for new energy vehicles and large trucks.
In addition, the government can also reduce the burden on car owners and balance the interests of all parties by providing subsidies and tax incentives.
In contrast, the attitude of car owners is more direct and intense.
The price of oil is so expensive, and you have to pay the road fee, isn't it distressing?
"Why don't you have to pay for electric cars?
Is this fair? ”
Recently, there has been a heated discussion on the Internet about "road maintenance fees".
Words such as "robbing the rich and helping the poor" and "killing chickens to take eggs" appear frequently, reflecting the public's confusion and dissatisfaction with this policy.
Some people believe that electric vehicles do not burn oil, and should indeed pay the corresponding "electricity road maintenance fee".
After all, the road is not infinite, and it is fair who pays for it.
However, some people say that buying an electric car is not cheap, and the money and insurance premium for buying a car are much more expensive than gasoline cars. Moreover, the cost of electricity has been rising, so it is not accurate to say that it is "free".
If the "electricity road maintenance fee" is levied again, it will deal a serious blow to the development of the electric vehicle industry.
Recently, there has been a lot of debate about "road maintenance fees", which is really a discussion of fairness and efficiency.
Reasonable charges?
The policy game behind it
In the face of public skepticism, some local governments have also begun to stand up and give an explanation.
Their reasoning is also simple: the state encourages "highway tolls, ordinary roads are free", but it does not prohibit ordinary road tolls.
To put it simply, as long as the relevant process is completed, the local government can decide whether to set up a toll station according to the actual situation.
At first glance, this sentence seems to make sense, but I always feel that something is strange.
First of all, the state encourages "highway tolls" because the construction and maintenance costs of expressways are higher, and the user group is relatively fixed, and the toll collection is more operable.
However, ordinary roads are more widely served, covering more rural areas and remote mountainous areas.
If the fee is charged on a large scale, it will undoubtedly increase the travel cost of ordinary people, which is not conducive to the balanced development of urban and rural areas and common prosperity.
Second, if the local government is in financial difficulties, can it put the idea on the head of the "road maintenance fee"?
Now the state has been trying to find ways to reduce the burden on enterprises and individuals, so that everyone can be more relaxed, so that the market can be more active.
If local governments restart charging fees at will in order to increase revenues, won't the results of previous reforms be in vain?
As a matter of fact, this method of treating the symptoms but not the root cause of the problem cannot solve the problem at all.
The Road Forward: Finding a Sustainable Mobility Development Model
To put it bluntly, re-discussing the "road maintenance fee" is actually trying to figure out who should pay for road repair and maintenance, and how the money should be divided.
How can we find a balance between the strained financial situation of local governments and the growing sensitivity of the public to the cost of travel?
First of all, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of the use of funds.
Is the 600 billion road maintenance cost really spent on the cutting edge?
If we want to make engineering construction and maintenance cost less, we can start from two aspects: one is to use our brains to come up with better design solutions, and the other is to strictly control the bidding and bidding process of the project.
Second, it is necessary to explore a more reasonable charging model.
Instead of letting everyone use the car all the time, it is better to charge according to the actual distance of the car, or charge more money for those cars that are very polluting, so as to encourage everyone to take more environmentally friendly vehicles to go out.
In addition, the national level should also strengthen overall planning and establish a more perfect fiscal transfer payment system to help local governments alleviate fiscal pressure and fundamentally solve the problem.
Of course, we can't just complain, we also have to find a way to solve the problem.
In fact, the road is available to everyone, and there is always some price to pay for using the road.
While safeguarding our own rights and interests, we should also understand the difficulties of the state and local governments, actively participate in the discussion and formulation of policies, and jointly promote the establishment of a more equitable, efficient and sustainable road transport development model.
After all, only in this way can we truly pave a broad road to common prosperity, rather than a "road to prosperity" full of "toll stations".
Information sources:
Guangming Daily2024-08-13In the first half of 2024, the investment in transportation fixed assets was 1.7 trillion yuan, and the pace of construction of a comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network in the mainland has accelerated
China Industry Network2024-05-29Optimize the allocation of funds to cope with the peak of highway maintenance
China News Weekly2024-08-31National Highway, will it resume charging again?