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Is that a political problem? Surely, a person who lives in rural NZ might think, "Oh, my tax dollars are being used to help those in Auckland; I'm being shafted

Is that a political problem? Surely, a person who lives in rural NZ might think, "Oh, my tax dollars are being used to help those in Auckland; I'm being shafted", but if NZ is anything like the United States, urban centers are the producers of tax units and rural areas consume tax units.

robocat 7y ago
If you don't live in Auckland, your reckon your taxes are being spent in Auckland on expensive roading projects, and you can see that work isn't getting done on your local roading problems. Regardless of how optimal for the nation that might be, or even if everyone is actually better off, you can easily end up with many unhappy people outside of Auckland (a political problem). Edit: strongtowns on cost/benefit analysis (half good, half not): https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/12/21/best-of-blog-costs-and-benefits.html https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/12/21/best-of-blog-...
oh_sigh 7y ago
It's not a straightforward as simple consumption and production of tax units. The question is who benefits? If Alaska consumes a lot of tax units by having an early warning system for ICBMs, then Alaska benefits in the sense that there is a government jobs program, but the simple calculus of tax units consumed vs produced doesn't factor in the benefit San Francisco and Los Angeles get from the early warning system.
seem_2211 7y ago
It's worth pointing out that Auckland has recently added a regional fuel tax to pay for some of their roading infrastructure. I haven't lived in NZ for a few years now, but I grew up there. I wouldn't be surprised if your analysis on urban vs. rural centers being producers vs. consumers might be slightly off as the economy is heavily dependent on agriculture etc. New Zealand has two major problems: 1: Housing is completely out of touch with reality in Auckland (and to a lesser extent in all major centers). Auckland is one of the least affordable cities in the world to live in, and unlike San Francisco, lacks an industry that pays enough to keep up. 2: The regions are suffering from a death by 1000 cuts type scenario. I have a working theory that the move towards bigger and better and more powerful cities has been one of our gravest errors in modern urban planning.

robocat 7y ago

If you don't live in Auckland, your reckon your taxes are being spent in Auckland on expensive roading projects, and you can see that work isn't getting done on your local roading problems. Regardless of how optimal for the nation that might be, or even if everyone is actually better off, you can easily end up with many unhappy people outside of Auckland (a political problem). Edit: strongtowns on cost/benefit analysis (half good, half not): https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/12/21/best-of-blog-costs-and-benefits.html https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/12/21/best-of-blog-...

oh_sigh 7y ago

It's not a straightforward as simple consumption and production of tax units. The question is who benefits? If Alaska consumes a lot of tax units by having an early warning system for ICBMs, then Alaska benefits in the sense that there is a government jobs program, but the simple calculus of tax units consumed vs produced doesn't factor in the benefit San Francisco and Los Angeles get from the early warning system.

seem_2211 7y ago

It's worth pointing out that Auckland has recently added a regional fuel tax to pay for some of their roading infrastructure. I haven't lived in NZ for a few years now, but I grew up there. I wouldn't be surprised if your analysis on urban vs. rural centers being producers vs. consumers might be slightly off as the economy is heavily dependent on agriculture etc. New Zealand has two major problems: 1: Housing is completely out of touch with reality in Auckland (and to a lesser extent in all major centers). Auckland is one of the least affordable cities in the world to live in, and unlike San Francisco, lacks an industry that pays enough to keep up. 2: The regions are suffering from a death by 1000 cuts type scenario. I have a working theory that the move towards bigger and better and more powerful cities has been one of our gravest errors in modern urban planning.