Federal and state gas taxes are insufficient to pay for construction and maintenance of the highway system, much less all the regular streets that the last mile delivery trucks run on.
Then those taxes should be raised to pay for that, and other taxes reduced to compensate. Make the people who use the roads pay for the roads.
I agree entirely, but what should be and what is are not always the same.
Don't penalize amazon and all the online sellers because the government is too stupid to allocate taxes properly and fairly, and wants to subsidize road costs with unrelated taxes.
It's not so much that the "government is too stupid", but that a significant chunk of the electorate screams bloody murder if their precious gas gets even slightly more expensive.
"Government is too spineless" might be more accurate.
Why should local purchases be taxed but not interstate delivery orders?
Simple: because interstate delivery orders are more efficient,
If they're more efficient, that ought to be reflected in lower base prices, plus consumer preference due to less hassle/cost on their end getting to the store.
Why do they need a subsidy in the form of a tax exemption on top of that?
it uses less fuel than driving around to 10 stores to compare prices,
How many purchases actually involve that? More common is driving to one store (bad, but not sure how much worse it is than the extra driving (and likely idling time) of a local delivery truck), and not always that for people that live in walkable/transitable areas.
Making drivers bear the full cost of driving would help with customer choice here, too.
it doesn't require parking lots which waste tons of land,
Stop having zoning codes that require low densities and minimum parking.