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Businesses choose in their own self interest. If it takes me 40+ minutes longer to ride a subway than drive in (currently true) then it's both me and my employ

Businesses choose in their own self interest. If it takes me 40+ minutes longer to ride a subway than drive in (currently true) then it's both me and my employer's interest to reduce cost barriers and pay for the downtown parking. Tragedy of the commons with a touch of government inertia

ropeladder 9y ago
The article is arguing against government subsidies, not business choices. Businesses are providing a benefit, parking, that is not taxed as income. If that benefit was taxed in the same way income was, it would be more expensive for both businesses and consumers and therefore businesses and consumers might make other choices about transit (or location). Further, I would argue that the time for your commute is to a large part determined by the available infrastructure (roads vs subway lines vs busses, for example), which is something the public has chosen to allocate funds for. There are certainly more and less efficient ways to move people around, and I'm not saying that cars are better or worse, just that the efficiency is partly a choice the public has made.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Brakenshire 9y ago
The issue also, why it take 40 minutes longer to take a subway than to ride in? That is not just the market, it's also often to do with zoning, separating residential and commercial, restricting height, and also things like requiring that all apartments have parking spaces. Similarly, policies prioritizing roads and parking in the city spread out the centre of the city, making it less pleasant to live in the centre rather than the suburb, and impractical for getting around on foot, or by public transport. A market might just as well be responding to government incentives, as much as driving the thing itself.
JackFr 9y ago
> Businesses choose in their own self interest. Thus if it's in their interest to lobby for a tax code with distortative effects, they will.
Veratyr 9y ago
> If it takes me 40+ minutes longer to ride a subway than drive in (currently true) then it's both me and my employer's interest to reduce cost barriers and pay for the downtown parking. Or it's in both your interests to decrease the time it takes to use public transport.

ropeladder 9y ago

The article is arguing against government subsidies, not business choices. Businesses are providing a benefit, parking, that is not taxed as income. If that benefit was taxed in the same way income was, it would be more expensive for both businesses and consumers and therefore businesses and consumers might make other choices about transit (or location). Further, I would argue that the time for your commute is to a large part determined by the available infrastructure (roads vs subway lines vs busses, for example), which is something the public has chosen to allocate funds for. There are certainly more and less efficient ways to move people around, and I'm not saying that cars are better or worse, just that the efficiency is partly a choice the public has made.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

Brakenshire 9y ago

The issue also, why it take 40 minutes longer to take a subway than to ride in? That is not just the market, it's also often to do with zoning, separating residential and commercial, restricting height, and also things like requiring that all apartments have parking spaces. Similarly, policies prioritizing roads and parking in the city spread out the centre of the city, making it less pleasant to live in the centre rather than the suburb, and impractical for getting around on foot, or by public transport. A market might just as well be responding to government incentives, as much as driving the thing itself.

JackFr 9y ago

> Businesses choose in their own self interest. Thus if it's in their interest to lobby for a tax code with distortative effects, they will.

Veratyr 9y ago

> If it takes me 40+ minutes longer to ride a subway than drive in (currently true) then it's both me and my employer's interest to reduce cost barriers and pay for the downtown parking. Or it's in both your interests to decrease the time it takes to use public transport.