We have the same sort of thing here on our B and some A class roads.
We have to pay the government a road tax every year, depending on the size, type and engine capacity of the vehicle. Varying from a few pounds for a moped, to many thousands of pounds for an artic. I should think the average motorist would pay about 200 squid a year for each vehicle he owns.
This is supposed to go towards maintaining our roads, but over the years, it has been classed as just another tax, and I think it just goes into the general tax coffers, and then they just allocate a little of it for road maintenance to the cheapest bidder for the contract. Crap contractors, crap roads that need patching up every year because they only do a patch up job in the first place, rather than a good quality repair. Dig the loose bit out, wack a bit of tarmac in the hole, and wait for it to break up, then repeat from the beginning. OK for a quickfix for a few months, a very false economy over the long term.
Bogs