01-30-2018, 01:06 PM
[quote pid='48072' dateline='1517331153']
I suspect it's actually from "wealthy" people to "poor" people. Which is actually fundamentally fine for me. I think there are good arguments for increasing usage feeds - but its not actually set up to be used that wastefully since there are still a LOT of other costs related to mile driven. Even if those costs don't fund the road infrastructure they still serve as a deterrent to wasteful usage.
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I'm curious why you would think wealthy people would be subsidizing the driving of poor people? I can't think of much progressive about the way we fund roads. Property taxes are slightly progressive, but not to a great extent- especially as equity in one's home is a smaller proportion of wealthy people's wealth than poorer people's, and other types of property taxes are passed on to renters and consumers.
I also don't see that there are "a lot" of other costs related to miles driven. Gasoline, for sure; and depreciation, but not on a 1:1 relationship: depreciation is a function of more than just how much the car was driven. Maintenance works similarly. Insurance cost isn't related to miles driven, either, more than to a small degree.
Cost per kilometre driven definitely falls as more distance is driven. I think most of the incentives are more use, not less.
I suspect it's actually from "wealthy" people to "poor" people. Which is actually fundamentally fine for me. I think there are good arguments for increasing usage feeds - but its not actually set up to be used that wastefully since there are still a LOT of other costs related to mile driven. Even if those costs don't fund the road infrastructure they still serve as a deterrent to wasteful usage.
[/quote]
I'm curious why you would think wealthy people would be subsidizing the driving of poor people? I can't think of much progressive about the way we fund roads. Property taxes are slightly progressive, but not to a great extent- especially as equity in one's home is a smaller proportion of wealthy people's wealth than poorer people's, and other types of property taxes are passed on to renters and consumers.
I also don't see that there are "a lot" of other costs related to miles driven. Gasoline, for sure; and depreciation, but not on a 1:1 relationship: depreciation is a function of more than just how much the car was driven. Maintenance works similarly. Insurance cost isn't related to miles driven, either, more than to a small degree.
Cost per kilometre driven definitely falls as more distance is driven. I think most of the incentives are more use, not less.