[mjevans]

The _really_ rich don't even drive themselves. It really doesn't effect them that much.

A tax doesn't have to hit just the poorest people to effect the poor. This probably hits middle-upper middle the hardest, and anyone taking a hired car (like a cab) as well* (There's a chance that sort of fee is elsewhere, like the medallion registration).

The correct place to levy the fee is on demand sources that draw people into the area at given times. Reduced fees should be offered to business that schedule shifts earlier or later to avoid the congestion windows.

[addicted]

So your recommendation is that instead of picking a system that is simple to implement and understand and has been successfully implemented in multiple cities across the world (and now in NYC as well) they should have opted for a novel system that is way more complicated to implement and understand which would even if it worked perfectly have extremely marginal benefits over the tried and tested system.

[mjevans]

Businesses are already supposed to report worker salary as part of taxes and other regulations, they might even already have to report hours to labor boards.

The change here is also reporting when those hours are worked, possibly to local govs instead of just state/national, and then a zoned tax based on the start and stop times relative to 'congestion windows'. Similarly with 'open hours' for businesses.

That seems more simple and more direct than taxing individual people, taxing the drive of the demand instead.

[skywhopper]

What makes you think the cab driver is paying congestion fees out of their own pocket? That’s not how it works.

[aqme28]

Congestion pricing doesnt affect cabs/uber the same way.