Funding roads (taxes, user fees etc)

[Viewfromthe42]

ijmorlan, let's go with this.  Why don't you post a source showing that motorists get "(almost) free roads"?

I showed one showing there's 65-85% cost recovery.

Some of the glaring issues with that report:
It considers Vehicle Registration Taxes, which in places like Toronto no longer exist, and which are not inconsequential amounts of money.
While some suggest that we need roads and should subsidize them in order to have transport trucks able to deliver goods to anywhere in the country, this report taxes the other view, wherein we should seek to put a huge proportion of road costs onto those vehicles due to their weight. Yes, it does increase wear, but we aren't building 10 lanes of 401 here in the region to accommodate those vehicles.
They consider licensing and traffic violations as sources of revenue intended for roads, which is not how we apply things in practice, nor is it good practice.

Most glaringly, they consider your purchase of a vehicle as a form of payment for the road. Compare that their view of the combined cost to society of infrastructure, pollution, congestion, and accidents is 18.5 cents per kilometer driven, but a whopping 45 cents of "costs to society which drivers pay for" is the cost of the vehicle itself, which of course is paid for by you. This is NOT payment for roads, this is your payment for your vehicle.

Put it this way... you only cover 65-85% of the costs when you include the cost of your car in the "societal burden" costs package, and make that responsible for (45 / (45 + 7) x 100% =) 86% of the costs to society, you are massively overstating what drivers actually pay.