Firstly, from what I understand money the government earns in revenue for fuel tax greatly exceeds the amount of money they spend on building roads and their maintenance.
So give us back all the money you stole.
Or start using it to fund the road projects you sell to private consortium's.
People that travel on toll roads daily pay 2 or 3 times the amount of rego as people that don't.
Lets face it they are all public roads, toll roads or not.
Only then can we think about a fairer system (inclusive of the word 'fair') such as pay-as-you-go registration with fuel.
It seems reasonable that someone who uses the road a lot more than someone who doesn't should pay a larger share.
I agree its a fairer system, but the government will want to take the rego-payment details every time I put fuel in, therefore tracking my whereabouts.
I don't have anything to hide, but they have no need to pry. (Technology should empower us not imprison us.)

Ultimately, the government thieves make enough money stealing from us under the current system, the only way they would change it is if someone suggested an idea where they could steal more.

The system is unfair.
It makes smokers help pay for the health care of non-smokers.
It charges more tax on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks to give the impression it cares about people, when its just a cash grab.
It gives free needles to junkies whilst diabetics still pay for them.
It charges a departure tax just for right to leave.

When the government says its looking for ways to improve things that's just code for looking for ways to take more from people and give to themselves, because they never actually do a better job of anything. Our deficit proves me right.

The petrol rego tax does seem a reasonable method.

My next car will almost certainly be electric, so there is another
complication.

A friend has an electric car and drives it to work every day about
30km a day, plus weekend and night driving.
It costs him $0.13 per km. He connected a KWH meter to his charger which he connects to off peak power.
It is very smooth and nippy to drive also.
How does it go ? Straight past the service station !

There is no need for more taxes. Just create your own debt free money via Govt owned banks.

This whole discussion is based on a false premise, which is that unregistered vehicles are difficult to detect and thus that the offenders tend to go unpunished.

This may have been true till several years back, but is certainly not now.

In NSW, every Highway Patrol vehicle and many fixed locations have automatic numberplate recognition connected to computers which flag unregistered, uninsured and stolen vehicles. They also detect, in two or three seconds, vehicles which are owned by those with cancelled and suspended licences and which have been used in crimes. Each automatic toll station includes this type of device, to record non-paying vehicles and to determine the appropriate toll for commercial vehicles. The point-to-point trip measuring cameras also incorporate numberplate recognition: every vehicle is recorded, every trip, along with time and location.

There are thousands of these devices in use at any given time, so detection, which was once impractical, is now certain.

One reason for the current high statistics may well be that many of those who until recently have not been apprehended are now being cleaned up at wholesale rates.

The author's proposal would also saddle accident-free drivers with the costs attributable to those with poor claims history, with no opportunity for insurance rebates. That is unfair and just plain silly.

As long ago as 1968, when I first studied traffic engineering, the merits and costs of fuel taxes instead of scaled registration charges were discussed. The truth then still applies today: litre for litre, heavy trucks cause many times more damage to roads than do passenger vehicles. The author's proposal would simply result in another hidden subsidy for the heaviest, slowest and most damaging sector of the road transport industry at the expense of other users and taxpayers generally.

JohnBennetts - Good point about number plate recognition.

Re large trucks - shifting license taxes to fuel is not an insurmountable problem - no doubt Govt departments have estimated the actual road damage per litre. Apply that, add insurance, congestion road trauma, carbon and noise costs that are currently externalised.

Then remove the diesel fuel rebate and apply the same tax as applied to petrol. If the above costs still are not covered, add an additional tax for diesel at truck-stops, or if that impractical apply it through the license fee.

That could easily be done. The only obstacle is political - the powerful road transport lobby and their nonsense claim that food costs would go through the roof if fuel taxes are increased.

Roses1 the road transport does pay the same taxes on their fuel as the motorist. It is only off road users, & only some of them, who don't pay road tax. Of course the greens want this misconception perpetuated, so lead the misinformation.

They also claim the lack of road tax on fuel used on farms & mines is a subsidy.

The whole thing was a rather sore point for us in the marine tourist industry. We were paying road tax on the fuel we used running around the ocean, where it was highly unlikely we were causing any wear & tear on public roads.