Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by redandblack 521 days ago
this is totally true - subsidizing the rich by the poor

I always thought congestion pricing was always mis-priced, and it should be tied to income/wealth.

The only way to do this is to let the poor apply and get free electronic tokens and get that missing 43k back.

fyi - my MD can easily manage a 10x the mid-town tolls

4 comments

> I always thought congestion pricing was always mis-priced, and it should be tied to income/wealth.

NYC has a low-income discount system: https://new.mta.info/tolls/congestion-relief-zone/discounts-...

But also, the money is going to fund public transit, which disproportionately benefits poorer people.

Should everything be tied to income/wealth? Taxes and college tuition are already tied to income/wealth. Why not food, housing, travel, clothes, healthcare, even drinking water? At that point wealth will stop to have any meaning.
Yes - if we financialize all public services, then it makes sense to use income/wealth to subsidize (re-distribute to be more precise) the poor.

I remember reading a few weeks back that UK is getting the railroads back to public ownership - not sure if that is true, but would like to hear from UK readers on the impact of financialization (aka privatizing) of public utilities.

I am not a fan of public ownership - but a supported of public subsidies for utilities - transport / electricity / heat / water and in this case roads

Yes, e ink displays in the super market following you around with prices dependent on how many bitcoins in your cold wallet.
Poor people in NYC don't have cars.
It will help Amazon and other delivery companies. Less competition from people driving their own cars to get things. California is working to put on a per-mile tax onto drivers because roads wear out faster then gas taxes, sales tax on autos, sales tax on auto repairs/parts, and registration taxes can be collected...