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They do, in taxes. Or do you expect the police, highway system, fire dept etc to turn a profit as well?

bko 1y ago
People should pay for services they use. Highway system is mostly funded through gasoline tax, which although not perfect, is pretty good proxy for how much you use public roads. Regarding police, private security does exist and works pretty well. Whether you're installing an alarm on your home or paying off-duty police to escort you around, it's an option and often provides better service and more options due to the profit incentive. I wish more public services had a profit incentive as long as there was a choice. Like with fire insurance, I can choose my coverage and its priced competitively. The insurance company also has an incentive to not have your house burn down, so they mandate you have fire detectors and other such preventative measures. Seems like a pretty good system.
- giraffe_lady 1y ago
  > People should pay for services they use. You say this like it's a fact I have to accept but it simply isn't. It's an ideological position I wasn't convinced of at the beginning of this conversation and still am not.
  - bko 1y ago
    I think "pay for something you use" is not an ideological position. This is a lesson we teach 3 year olds. "That's not yours" is in fact one of the very first lessons we teach children. And it's not specific to any one culture or country. Pretty basic stuff.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
- sagarm 1y ago
  The highway system does not pay for itself with usage fees; last I checked 50% of its funding came from the general fund.
lurk2 1y ago
People who can’t afford to pay for a bus ticket are not paying taxes.
- micromacrofoot 1y ago
  most train and bus systems also have reduced/free fare through means-testing systems... this covers the poor, students, the elderly, disabled people... guess what's built in to the tax code? means testing we eliminate piles of bureaucracy when we eliminate fare systems

bko 1y ago

People should pay for services they use. Highway system is mostly funded through gasoline tax, which although not perfect, is pretty good proxy for how much you use public roads. Regarding police, private security does exist and works pretty well. Whether you're installing an alarm on your home or paying off-duty police to escort you around, it's an option and often provides better service and more options due to the profit incentive. I wish more public services had a profit incentive as long as there was a choice. Like with fire insurance, I can choose my coverage and its priced competitively. The insurance company also has an incentive to not have your house burn down, so they mandate you have fire detectors and other such preventative measures. Seems like a pretty good system.

giraffe_lady 1y ago
> People should pay for services they use. You say this like it's a fact I have to accept but it simply isn't. It's an ideological position I wasn't convinced of at the beginning of this conversation and still am not.
- bko 1y ago
  I think "pay for something you use" is not an ideological position. This is a lesson we teach 3 year olds. "That's not yours" is in fact one of the very first lessons we teach children. And it's not specific to any one culture or country. Pretty basic stuff.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
sagarm 1y ago
The highway system does not pay for itself with usage fees; last I checked 50% of its funding came from the general fund.

lurk2 1y ago

People who can’t afford to pay for a bus ticket are not paying taxes.

micromacrofoot 1y ago
most train and bus systems also have reduced/free fare through means-testing systems... this covers the poor, students, the elderly, disabled people... guess what's built in to the tax code? means testing we eliminate piles of bureaucracy when we eliminate fare systems