As required by the Ministry of Transportation, China's local governments recently rolled out plans to allow motorists to take to the country's highways and bridges free of charge during the upcoming 8-day holiday.
With more than 70 percent of the world's toll roads located in China, the country obviously can afford to help drivers and businesses save on transportation and logistics costs.
The country should not waive all road tolls altogether though, as this would harm the public's interests and the transit infrastructure as a whole.
If tolls are axed across the board, the operators of the county's indebted roads would have to seek out government aid to pay off their loans. This will lead to higher taxes. As the number of car owners in China is still dwarfed by the number of non-car owners, many of the country's citizens, including the majority of its low-income earners, would be left footing the bill to support a program that they get no direct benefit from.
