The Sun Journal editorial Oct. 20 suggested making I-295 a toll highway to raise additional funds for highway maintenance. That idea of creating an additional tax for Mainers could have been ghost-written by an Augusta politician.

Toll highways are an inefficient way to collect taxes. Collecting tolls on the Maine Turnpike costs in excess of $12 million a year, and the toll collectors are part of the state retirement system.

A means already exists to fund highway maintenance. The state taxes collected on gasoline and diesel fuel is supposed to be used for that purpose. The cost to collect that tax is minimal, and increasing the tax wouldn’t increase the collection cost.

The idea to make I-295 a toll highway is like suicide – a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Richard Sabine, Lewiston