3 ms·
The difference (as I see it) is that taxes are paid relative to how much you earn/are worth, while road tolls are the same for all. Everyone (outside of major m
by untog 6y ago
The difference (as I see it) is that taxes are paid relative to how much you earn/are worth, while road tolls are the same for all. Everyone (outside of major metro areas where you can use public transit) needs roads, and driving to work on a tolled road will hurt the wallets of poor folks a lot more than it will rich folks.
- m463 6y agoyes, one person's equality may just be a regressive tax to someone else.
- usetaxes 6y agoPublic roads are paid for via gasoline taxes, eg a flat usage tax, and are thus nearly exactly as regressive as a toll. The only difference is that a poor person could choose to drive an economy car, or an electric vehicle, in order to avoid paying their share of use tax. But so could a rich person. The other difference is that the usage tax is a hidden cost and tolls are not.
- dmurray 6y agoOnly about 40% of spending on roads in the US comes from tolls and fuel taxes [0]. It's not correct to call them "nearly as regressive as a toll": in terms of regressiveness, they're halfway between funding them from tolls and funding them from income/property/sales taxes. [0] https://taxfoundation.org/states-road-funding-2019/ https://taxfoundation.org/states-road-funding-2019/