4 ms·
There are many more things like this: - mailing addresses - credit cards - bank accounts - transportation - parents (if you're a minor) - literacy There'
by oconnor663 7y ago
There are many more things like this:
- mailing addresses
- credit cards
- bank accounts
- transportation
- parents (if you're a minor)
- literacy
There's also a big, noticeable difference between organizations designed to serve the 90% of the population that generally has those things, and organizations designed to serve nearly 100%. The former can look like smooth modern startups like Airbnb or Venmo, surprisingly simple (for me) and low friction (for me). The latter can look like giant, impossible bureaucracies like the DMV or the IRS, who have trouble "modernizing" because all the old systems still have to be maintained for the people who depend on them.
- rjkennedy98 7y agoTransportation is the big one. Transportation in American is so poorly designed that it basically forces an enormous (regressive) tax on everyone. Cars are an enormous cost for the average person, and are especially needed for service jobs of the poor. At the same time we pay huge amounts of money to maintain suburban infrastructure for the middle/upper class at the expense of public transit which could benefit everyone.
- tastygreenapple 7y agoHowever, people in the suburbs pay for their infrastructure. Urban, rural, and bicycle transportation infrastructure is funded by suburban car drivers. I live in California and ride a motorcycle, there's no way I wear out the road more than I pay for it and the infrastructure is shockingly bad, there are a few roads on my commute where I have to be really smart about my positioning because there are holes large enough to make me crash. Fewer people can safely drive cars and we need more viable alternatives, but giving people the infrastructure they're paying for is important too.
- ant6n 7y agoSuburban drivers pay suburban property taxes which pay for the maintenance of suburban streets.
- tastygreenapple 7y agoand suburban drivers pay gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, insurance fees, sales tax, etc. where does that go?
- ant6n 7y agoHighways
- tastygreenapple 7y agoIf only that were the case, often car users pay for pedestrian / bicyclist luxuries: https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/StateRevenueSources_June2014%20%281%29.pdf https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/StateRevenueSourc...
- krageon 7y agoWhat is this obsession with who pays for what? You all live in the same country and (broadly) pay the same taxes. Those taxes are used to fund all the things the country needs to exist.