31–40 of 114 posts
Why not charge tourists a special subway rate (++) and finance the repairs that way, instead of creating 'exclu$ive zones' of movement.
Ambient temperature in the Herald Square station (one of the biggest) in the summer is often well over 100 degrees, humid, and stagnant, while the platforms and tracks are filthy and smell like mold and pee everywhere. During rush times, there are half the number of necessary cars so you're crammed up against strangers. There's no way to tell when the trains are coming. 5 will get you 10 this tax does nothing to impr…
Huh? "Though state leaders have not ironed out details, they had reached consensus on Monday that the plan was necessary to help pay for much-needed repairs to the city’s beleaguered subway system."
I'm indifferent and glad I don't live there but why not just charge what it should cost to use Public Transportation/Subways? Why look for ways to subsidize it by taxing everything else but the people who use it?
Isn't congestion pricing taxing people who use the roads? An Uber driver uses the roads a lot more than your average New Yorker, what taxes exist to cover that imbalance? (asking in earnest) Earmarking tax dollars for projects is kind of meaningless. Subsidizing public transportation is a good idea anyway. High costs of transportation disproportionately hurt poorer people. If you're not for public transportation then…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not with the strides we've been making in fuel efficiency. An EV pays no gasoline taxes, but has similar impact on the roads to any other car. Now, EVs are a good thing... but they do expose issues with paying for transport via gas taxes.
I heard a proposal to tax tires instead, which I suppose would let EVs and hybrids pay their fair share (although it would probably cause more cheapskates to drive around on bald tires)
Why not charge tourists a special subway rate (++) and finance the repairs that way, instead of creating 'exclu$ive zones' of movement.
Tourists don't use the subway much. It's rather confusing and even scary.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gasoline/Petrol taxes are probably your best analog if you want people to pay in proportion to how much they're driving.
Not with the strides we've been making in fuel efficiency. An EV pays no gasoline taxes, but has similar impact on the roads to any other car. Now, EVs are a good thing... but they do expose issues with paying for transport via gas taxes.
If there are eventually too many EV's to generate any road repair revenue, we can re-assess then. For now, the incentive structure makes sense, and should be increased if anything.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not with the strides we've been making in fuel efficiency. An EV pays no gasoline taxes, but has similar impact on the roads to any other car. Now, EVs are a good thing... but they do expose issues with paying for transport via gas taxes.
That's fair I didn't think about EVs. For now their adoption rate is low enough that Gas Taxes are still a decent stand in (~2-4% it sounds like with quick googling). https://bnef.turtl.co/story/evo2018?teaser=true In the future though it probably will be a bigger problem. I suppose you could add similar sales taxes to public paid charging stations, but without separately metering home charging you'll probably still…
In 1987, US average fuel economy was 22.0mpg. In 2018, it was 24.9mpg [2]. A 13% improvement in 31 years.
The idea that the US as a whole has made "great strides" in improving fuel economy, and that we therefore need to rethink the gas tax, is ludicrous. Even in California, it is mostly wishful thinking, and it is definitely not the case in New York.
[1] https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/wisniewski/ct...
[2] Table 3.1 in the 2018 report Excel file, https://www.epa.gov/automotive-trends/download-data-automoti...
Unintended consequence: driving in Manhattan will be de facto off-limits to the poor.