[Should highway tolls continue to be tolled after they expire? Response from the Ministry of Transport: The fuel tax has been collected, so why do the highway tolls continue to be charged after they expire? The person in charge of the relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Transport stated that according to current regulations and policies, the consumption tax on refined oil only covers ordinary highway maintenance costs and does not include highway management and maintenance costs. Currently, the management and maintenance funds for highways during the toll period are included in vehicle tolls, but there is no clear system for raising highway management and maintenance funds after the toll period expires. In recent years, as the toll charges for early-construction expressways have expired, the problem of management and maintenance fund shortages has become increasingly prominent. In particular, most of the expressways that have expired have large traffic volumes, long roads, aging facilities, and are on important corridors. If there is no sufficient, stable and reliable management and maintenance fund guarantee in the future, it will be difficult to continue to provide safe, convenient, high-quality and efficient traffic services for the people and economic and social development. At present, the consumption tax on refined oil products that replaces road maintenance fees can only meet about half of the funding needs for ordinary highway maintenance, leaving a large gap. If the highway management and maintenance funds are guaranteed by increasing the consumption tax rate of refined oil after the expiration of the toll period, it is estimated that the price of refined oil will increase significantly. This will cause an unfair tax burden for fuel vehicle owners who do not use the expressway or rarely use the expressway. After the Highway Law is revised, the highways after the expiration of the toll period will be managed uniformly by the government. The "user pays" method of "big users pay more, small users pay less, and non-users pay nothing" can be used to collect vehicle tolls from road users who actually benefit and raise management and maintenance funds. This not only reflects the fairness of "who benefits, who bears the burden" and avoids increasing the burden on the whole people, but also can provide safe, convenient, high-quality and efficient traffic services for the people and economic and social development. It is a pragmatic choice in line with China's development reality.