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Plus, the implication that your taxes should only pay for services that you personally use, or even for services that you might use, is just plain uncivilized.
Some people have that situation, for example, where they can choose whether to pay for fire services, and if they don't and their house catches fire, the fire department won't do anything except protect neighboring houses that have paid for it.
It's pretty backwards for modern sensibilities.
Some taxes are fairly generic, like income tax or property tax. However some are specifically targeted, intentionally or not.
Too many people believe their gas taxes pay for road maintenance (on average in US less than half) so react in outrage when someone proposes other transportation needs, such as rail or bike lanes, or react in outrage at the idea of EVs not paying their fair share.
We should
My property taxes go overwhelmingly to the school (well like 52 percent where nothing else is close to that big) and I'll never have kids.
I like the kids educated that do exist though! Like damn we need them educated!
but still gets underfunded somehow.
I don't have kids why the hell should I pay for schools......wellml because I like living in an educated society, helló I'll never bep upset I'm paying for (real actual scientifically and primary source-backed) education.
Fire services aren't giving people lung cancer omg.
Right? I don't have kids but I'm happy my property tax funds schools.
The only thing is I’m getting awfully cynical on that. Sure, I’m all in to approve any tax increase for education, but is it really for that? The cynic in me wonders if politicians tend to shuffle the budget around so education appears to be in need. People are more likely to pay for education but are less likely to approve tax increases for other uses
Ah, but facilities used to drive a car are private goods, in that they are rivalrous and potentially excludable. Only one car can occupy a given space at a time, and we can (and do) charge for their use. Education, on the other hand, is a public good, non-rivalrous and non-exclusive. They are not the same, and there are good reasons to fund one with tax money, and not the other.
A ton of public services use roads. Actually, literally all public services use roads. School buses use roads to bring children to school. The post office uses roads, as do firefighters and EMS. So does your electric service, waste collection, and water service
So? those are a tiny fraction of the total use and if it was only used by those who really need it we would need a tiny fraction of the budget to repair them
Yes, and? All of those public services rely on private goods to operate, e.g. vehicles, fuel, wages, et cetera. All of those are rolled in to the cost of providing the service, so there's no reason that use of the basic vehicle infrastructure could not also be included. It would help eliminate deadweight loss, in fact.
I have no idea what sort of model you're advocating for here
Fair. I'm advocating removing all subsidies for private motor vehicles, so that we have a user-pays system, including the cost of negative externalities, like pollution, carbon emissions, and human health impacts, through taxes and registration fees (or similar). This would price the true cost of transportion into goods and services, which would lead to an economically optimal amount of driving. Undoubtedly we'd choose to drive much less, which would have lots of knock-on benefits for individuals and local communities.
Ok. What would that realistically look like? How does your plan account for the significantly higher cost burden that would be born by people who are lower income, given they're less likely to be able to afford fuel-efficient vehicles? And how do you account for EVs, or variability in carbon emissions?
Regardless, we're talking about funding for roads, which is a related but totally separate issue from everything else I just mentioned. Roads are a public service, and I'm vehemently against the libertarian idea of "pay per use" you're advocating
no you want taxpayers to subsidies your convenience because you're too fat to take the train
Engaging with the argument would be a better look than yelling derogatory things. And it's spelled "subsidize"
Car drivers had 50 years to change their habits. Now they destroyed the earth. Time to payback
Cars gave me a neurological disease. Car drivers should pay for their crime. If i were in charge i'd send them to gulag
Ok
Given that car drivers currently overpay for road maintenance and trucking underpays you would see the opposite effect, where people are encouraged to use smaller vehicles.
Costs would rise for everyone, impacting the poorest.
Suddenly the BMW drivers who currently overpay and have been subsidising roads for non-drivers is saving money and the pensioner who doesn’t drive has increased food and medicine costs.
There’s a reason the costs are spread the way they are. It’s a form of effective socialism.
Exatly. I don't drive, Im sick of my taxes going to some highway so some fatzo can sit on his pollution machine because he's bothered by trains.
Buses exist.
Local buses are a public service run by a municipality or transit authority, generally, but are still a private good. They're rivalrous (only one butt per seat), and excludable (can't ride if you don't pay). This is clearer with inter-city buses, which are operated by private corporations.
the public transportation in the west coast has been largely getting rid of seats since they can force more people to stand per area than sitting around.