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It's considered a use tax, like the existing gasoline taxes used to fund roads and highway tolls.
by wyldfire 8y ago
It's considered a use tax, like the existing gasoline taxes used to fund roads and highway tolls.
- BurningFrog 8y agoThe difference is that the subway ticket directly finances your subway ride. It's just like how a private subway company would have financed it, so calling it a "tax" just because the train is run by a government entity is a bit weird.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> the subway ticket directly finances your subway ride Money is fungible. The MTA budget most recently subsidised upstate boondoggles.
- ses1984 8y agoYour subway fare goes into the city budget. The cost of the subway system comes out of the city budget. Your subway fare only "directly finances" the subway system as long as it's convenient to think of it that way. If there was ever a huge surplus of subway money, it would go to other projects. If there was ever a huge deficit elsewhere, money would come out of the subway system.
- BurningFrog 8y agoPerhaps, depending on the city. I believe the NYC subway is state run. So to be clear, you do consider subway and bus tickets to be taxes? How about US postage stamps? Public utility bills?
- ses1984 8y agoAll that really matters is the effect on the bottom line, not the what you call each line item. Some debits map very logically to services like public utility bills, you pay for what you use, so it's convenieng to think of it in terms of usage fees instead of taxes. Some things don't map that clearly, like real estate taxes or sales tax, so it's convenient to think of them ad taxes.