Special fee for all car drivers: a useful instrument for financing the German transport infrastructure?

In April 2014, Torsten Albig, Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, made the surprise proposal of a special fee on all car drivers to finance the necessary infrastructure repairs. Would this proposed fee be a useful financial tool? According to Gernot Sieg, University of Münster, this special levy and a special "Repair Germany" fund would only strengthen the incentives that have led to the under-funding problem. For Bernhard Wieland, Technical University of Dresden, the advantage of Albig's proposal is the comparatively rapid implementation; all commissions and experts agree that immediate action is necessary. For Günter Knieps, University of Freiburg, the time is ripe for an "intelligent" car toll. Thomas Puls, Cologne Institute of Economic Research, emphasises that to improve the transport infrastructure much more is needed than new sources of funding, namely a change in political priorities - a higher priority must be assigned to transport policies. For Klaus J. Beckmann, KJBeckmann: ProStadt - Municipal Research, Consulting, Facilitation and Communication, Berlin, introducing a car toll is indispensable. For Tobias Bernecker, Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, the Introduction of a car toll announced by the Federal Ministry of Transport is logical if it is part of a development path that would lead from the principle of tax-financed transport infrastructure towards user-financed sectoral infrastructure financing circuits. Torsten Boeger, VIFG - Transport Infrastructure Funding Company, stresses the benefits of user financing.