To David's point about taxes and tolls. There are different types of taxes and I wonder if this is important. That is, there are general taxes that are levied that do not directly relate to where the government invests the taxes that they have collected. For example, some general income taxes are spent on maintaining roads, even if the person being taxed does not use roads. I suppose that there is the assumption/rationale is that everybody benefits from public roads. There are also taxes that act something like tolls. For example, there are road taxes that are levied because you own a car (sometimes based on the market value of your car) and gas taxes that are earmarked for investment in roads. Here I believe is the assumption that when drivers pull up to the gas pump, they will use their gas purchase to drive a vehicle on the road. These two taxes, although more indirect than a toll for road use, are more directly based on a direct cost and benefit rationale thank more general taxes.
I am not sure if this is important, I just thought that it might be worth noting.
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