This is relevant and novel? There's really nothing here that hasn't been true for at least the last 20 years. It usually one of the first things you learn after discovering any aspect of technology is how few people actually look under the hood.
For the most part I agree. The other issue is psi load produced by different tread patterns. Going from some minimal water channels to a mud terrain cleated style will reduce surface area a good bit. If you have experience with rural areas you don't need a calculator to observe the highest direct damage is usually from agricultural tractors. Deformation from a single pass can be observed (and often felt) with the naked eye in many cases.
Which is always easier said than done and a bit simplistic. The primary factor derived to date has been to tie the wear factor to axle weight. Meaning an empty vehicle made for transporting goods would be in the range of passenger vehicles. In addition to simple overloading, improperly balanced loading represents more damage for the same total vehicle weight. So each axle must be weighed in a loaded state on each individual trip to determine the presumptive proportional tax burden.
All of which creates overhead in the form of people to be paid, equipment to build/own/maintain, time lost at all stages, the usual political influence problems, jusrisdiction of different areas of road, implementing policy, and corruption. Most of it will end end up as pass through cost to individuals either way as both consumer goods and roadways are deemed essential. It's ultimately a fairness exercise of tax distribution so like most things in the public interest the arena any idea must be fought in is politics.