The Vermont Sun Eagle recently threw its support behind efforts to maintain the federal prohibition of tolling on existing interstates when Editor Louis Varricchio penned an editorial highlighting the negative effects of tolls on the traveling public and the public’s desire for an alternative to tolling.
In a March 28 editorial, “For Whom the Double-Taxed are Tolls,” Varricchio said paying additional highway taxes or tolls on the already taxed interstates is making long-distance motoring too costly for low-income and working class people.
Varricchio specifically calls attention to the work of the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI), of which NATSO is a founding member, writing that the organization "deserves more visibility and support from you and me."
Varricchio recounts how in 2013 the high cost of fuel coupled with tolls generated a sticker shock that ultimately forced him to reconfigure his plans for an “all-American roadtrip.”
“. . . when I began planning what I had thought would be a fun, cost-conscious automobile adventure trip from Vermont to Montana, the estimated travel price tag turned out to be a real shocker,” Varricchio wrote. “The whole effort ended up deflating what I had thought would be a beautiful vacation balloon—that is, the romance of a good old fashioned, all-American roadtrip.
Varricchio details how tolls waste taxpayer money, cause traffic to divert onto less safe roads, represents double taxation of motorists and increase the costs of delivering goods and services, putting local businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
NATSO members are urged to join the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI) at http://www.tollfreeinterstates.com/.
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