Missoulian: Let's fleece 'em at the border - Tuesday, May 3, 2005

I think these guys are joking. Or at least half-joking. Maybe.

This is from an editorial at The Missoulian (in Montana):

SUMMARY: Ask not from whom the road's tolled. It's tolled for thee, tourista!

The new federal highway bill speeding along in Congress includes a provision aimed mostly at the more populous states and big cities. The House of Representatives has passed and the Senate is considering lifting the longstanding ban against charging tolls on federally funded interstate highways. Pending passage of this provision suggests a rare entrepreneurial opportunity of sorts for Montana...

...So, are you thinking what we're thinking? Toll booths at the border?

For years, Montanans have tried to figure out how best to tax the millions of tourists who visit each year, as well as travelers who only pass through the state. Here's the solution, or at least a better solution than the general sales tax the politicians keep thrusting at us. Let's have toll booths on the outbound lanes at the state's borders with the Dakotas, Wyoming, Idaho and Canadian provinces.

We don't want to discourage tourism or visits from far-flung family and friends, so we'll make it free for folks to enter the state. But we can charge them - what? $10 maybe? - to get out. We already do something along these lines with airline travel. Airports collect fees to take off, even if you're here merely making flight connections. This seems to be such an easy way to make money it's hard to believe Congress is thinking about making it legal...

To read the whole editorial (I've cut some of the middle and the end), use title link.