y with
which all community business may be conducted. The introduction of
better opportunities for social, religious and educational activities
in the rural districts which results from improved highways is also a
community benefit of no mean importance. A part of the cost of road
improvement may therefore be equitably paid from funds obtained by
general taxation.

A considerable portion of the current expense of maintaining the
township and county highway work and at least a part of the cost of
maintaining state highway activities is met from funds obtained by
general taxation. Likewise, the funds required for the amortization of
bond issues are often obtained from general taxation although vehicle
license fees are sometimes used for that purpose.

General taxes are levied on all taxable property in a political unit
under statutory provisions regulating the amount of the levy and the
purpose for which the revenue is to be used. In the aggregate, the
road taxes are large but in the township or county the rate is
generally small compared to some other taxes, such as the school tax.

=Vehicle Taxes.=--The great direct benefit derived by those who
actually operate vehicles over the roads justifies the policy of
requiring a vehicle to pay a license fee in lieu of other taxes, the
funds so obtained to be used for the construction and maintenance of
public highways. In practice, this method has already been applied to
motor vehicles in most states and has proven to be an important source
of revenue. Its application to horse-drawn vehicles has not been
attempted, due probably to the fact that such horse-drawn vehicles as
use the public highways are also employed about the farm or in the
towns and the determination of an equitable basis for taxation
involves many difficulties.

The rate of the fee for motor vehicles should be based on their
destructive effect on the road so far as that is possible. The scale
of fees should therefore take account of weight and speed of vehicle
and if the license is in lieu of all other taxes, it should also be
graduated with the cost of the vehicle.

When funds are thus derived, every precaution should be taken to
insure that the money is used judiciously for construction and
especially for maintenance on those roads most useful to motor
traffic.

=Highway Bonds.=--Bond issues for road improvement afford a means of
constructing roads and paying for them while they are being used. A
very