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To people who feel pricing roads is wrong because of equity, what about pricing cars, gasoline, transit, parking, etc? Virtually all prices are hard on the poor
by lewis500 10y ago
To people who feel pricing roads is wrong because of equity, what about pricing cars, gasoline, transit, parking, etc? Virtually all prices are hard on the poor but there are rarely calls to do away with prices where they already exist. It doesn't make much sense to say that it's equitable to put a tax on gasoline, an input to driving, but not driving itself. Moreover, are we supposed to make all street parking or public parking garages free at all times?
What I see is status quo bias. Driving on a crowded road at rush hour doesn't deserve to be price free any more than a ride on a subway, an hour in a parking garage, a court appointment, the water bill of a publicly owned utility or any of the other commodities for which government charges some price.
It's especially funny to see people complain tolls are big government. Tolls are supported by virtually every conservative think tank. They are central to trump's infrastructure plans.
- Neliquat 10y agoLets take average Joe. He can choose to buy a car or not, but he depends on the value roads provide with his life and employment. Does he not have the responsibility to contribute? Police do not arrive by train, we will always need roads, and discrete transport, and they will always benefit everyone, driver or not. Toll only funding just leads to worse basic services, and technical inflation.