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That sounds like a good bargain. The downside is that the MTA would no longer have as good of a reason to incentivize ridership. I feel like there'd be a lot of
by jsight 5y ago
That sounds like a good bargain. The downside is that the MTA would no longer have as good of a reason to incentivize ridership. I feel like there'd be a lot of negative side effects to a change like that.
- jfrunyon 5y agoThe downside is that the 11 million people in the state who don't live in NYC might be upset about paying for the transit of the 8.4 million who do.
- ska 5y agoAnd those people get infrastructure spending in their areas that NYC dwellers never use too. What you are pointing out is a fundamental issue with taxes; the only hope is to have a systems that citizens feel is mostly equitable.
- jfrunyon 5y agoNo, what I'm pointing out is that the scales involved are preposterous in this case. 100% of the residents would be paying for services that are only available to ~41% of the residents. On the other hand, if it were, say, a tax in the service area of the MTA, then it would be mostly equitable.
- ska 5y agoBut it's always the case that some tax revenue is used for things that most people paying into it won't benefit directly from. That's generally accepted when people believe the indirect benefit overall worthwhile. This means that worrying about the relative %ages often isn't that productive compared to asking what is the broader benefit. (I'm not, fwiw, making the argument one way or another based on NYC transit, just saying it's a more on target argument to make).
- jfrunyon 5y agoYes. It's always the case that some people are left out, you're right. For example, not everyone in the MTA's service area uses the MTA. The suggestion at hand is literally unprecedented. Most taxes have some people paying into them who won't (fully/directly) benefit, but this tax would have the majority of people paying into it see no benefit.
- jsight 5y agoThat is a downside, the "the" downside. I'm not even convinced that it is close to the biggest issue, considering the obvious counterarguments. Not all tax costs have direct benefits to the payer. That is a feature, not a bug.