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Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

cityobservatory.org

21–30 of 276 posts

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#21
For the people who believe this is fair and just-

Should engineers and programmers pay more money for the same laptop as an art student?

I'm unsure if this pricing should only exist in the public sector or should extend to private services. Looking to hear your rationale.

I'm one of those, treat everyone equal, types. Would like to hear your reason.

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#22

I really take exception with their point on insurance. They try to insidiously suggest that the poor and urban population pays more for insurance than other populations due to... Well they don’t say, but I do take their inference. The fact of the matter is that the auto insurance industry is highly regulated and cannot discriminate on many factors. Their rate books are reviewed by regulators. The fact that poor and u…

>I wish other types of insurance (like health) were as easy to shop for as auto insurance. You can easily shop multiple insurers and compare prices from the comfort of your home and pick what works best for you.

Libertarian here, healthcare.gov is this. Its great.

well, its about as great as heavily bribed government sectors can be. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#23

For the people who believe this is fair and just- Should engineers and programmers pay more money for the same laptop as an art student? I'm unsure if this pricing should only exist in the public sector or should extend to private services. Looking to hear your rationale. I'm one of those, treat everyone equal, types. Would like to hear your reason.

Their point on registering vehicles by weight is the only sane way of doing it. You pay commensurate with the wear and tear your vehicle puts on the road. Doing it based on income or vehicle value is ridiculous. You already get dinged when you pay tax, now they want to double ding you? What a load of crap.

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#24
The three major themes of the article seem to be: micro transactions, variable pricing, and unbundling. I think that one of the unintended consequences of the first two is that doing them well requires a lot of information about the consumer at the transaction point. I can see some risks in that and I’m sure more devious minds than my own can think of more.

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#25

For the people who believe this is fair and just- Should engineers and programmers pay more money for the same laptop as an art student? I'm unsure if this pricing should only exist in the public sector or should extend to private services. Looking to hear your rationale. I'm one of those, treat everyone equal, types. Would like to hear your reason.

Many manufacturers DO have discounted student pricing (not that it's publicly mandated).

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#26
post #2

> parking meters don’t charge different rates to users based on their income; you have to pay the same amount to park your used Jetta as you do your new Mercedes [...] That’s inequitable. I guess it depends on which end of the political spectrum you are, but this sounds absolutely obscene to me.

I don’t understand why this example is there at all. This is just a product being sold for a price. Is it unfair that a banana costs the same for Jeff Bezos as it does for the homeless guy he walked past on his way to the store?

I mean, you certainly could argue that this is unfair, but at that point you’re basically arguing for a different concept of money and commerce, which is a rather bigger subject than the unfairness of tolls.

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#27

I really take exception with their point on insurance. They try to insidiously suggest that the poor and urban population pays more for insurance than other populations due to... Well they don’t say, but I do take their inference. The fact of the matter is that the auto insurance industry is highly regulated and cannot discriminate on many factors. Their rate books are reviewed by regulators. The fact that poor and u…

>I wish other types of insurance (like health) were as easy to shop for as auto insurance. You can easily shop multiple insurers and compare prices from the comfort of your home and pick what works best for you. Libertarian here, healthcare.gov is this. Its great. well, its about as great as heavily bribed government sectors can be. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s

Yeah, I wish they would do more to open up competition nationwide and unsaddle health insurance from employment. How ridiculous would it be if I needed to change car insurance every time I changed jobs. Stupid.

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#28
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument isn’t about whether the quantum of taxes is appropriate. It is how a fixed quantum turns a disincentive for some into an irrelevancy to others. If the purpose of the cost is to discourage use (peak period congestion charges), then it should vary with income so as to be a equally discouraging to all to whom it applies. For your example of trash collection, by having a fixed fee the state creates a greater…

> it is reasonable to vary pricing in order to equally apply the disincentive. No, it's not reasonable. The goal is not to discourage use, but to price in the negative externality. > For your example of trash collection, by having a fixed fee the state creates a greater incentive among the poor to reduce their trash production, And that's good, even if we suppose your argument is right. Bear with me: what's the perce…

I'm pretty sure 5% of the population can create more of whatever negative externality you'd like to tax than the lower 95%. Someone rich might not drive a car at all and instead take a private jet. An average person from the US produces fifty times as much CO2 as an average person from Kenya.

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#29

I really take exception with their point on insurance. They try to insidiously suggest that the poor and urban population pays more for insurance than other populations due to... Well they don’t say, but I do take their inference. The fact of the matter is that the auto insurance industry is highly regulated and cannot discriminate on many factors. Their rate books are reviewed by regulators. The fact that poor and u…

> Well they don’t say, but I do take their inference.

So you’re criticizing them for something they, as you admit, do not actually say. How is it their fault if the undisputed facts they state make you think of something that you consider wrong?

Re: Things that are more inequitable than road pricing

#30
post #13

let’s ask what it takes to create an overall system that is fair to all, considering all aspects of how the system is paid for, who benefits, and who bears the external costs Here's a crazy idea: instead of pricing congestion, let's introduce a point system with quotas tied to license plates and surge point deduction. Puts a hard limit on the number of cars that enter the zone and applies both to the rich and poor eq…

> Here's a crazy idea: instead of pricing congestion, let's introduce a point system with quotas tied to license plates and surge point deduction.

Good idea. Then make these points tradable, and you'll reach the same optimality as a congestion tax, but retain a system that doesn't exclude low-income folks.

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