Taxing Drivers By The Mile 1743

FREE is an obscene four letter word beginning with F. There is no free lunch.

If you can't identify how you pay for something, the cost is external to your control. Someone else pays for it and provides it to you in exchange for something you provide. You look at it as FREE.

People abuse things that are FREE.

For instance, parking.

If your employer or your city provides parking and does not charge you to park, parking seems FREE. But there is an opportunity cost. The employer had to pay for the parking space. Public Works had to pay to build public parking. Would your employer give you a raise if he did not have to pay your parking? Or would your employer pocket that money? Or would your employer pbutt the savings on to people that buy things from your company?

Would your taxes be lower if the city did not have to build FREE parking? Or would your government just divert those taxes into something else? If the parking wasn't there, would your commuting costs be higher or lower? Both answers are true. The answer depends on where you live.

Someone pointed out that zero percent of a road is paid for by fares. In his mind that is undoubtedly true. But does he see that 100% of the road is paid for by stable and dependable taxes on fuel. What I just said about zero percent and 100 percent funding is an ideal. Not many places have the balance. Most places require bookkeeping magic to keep the funds straight. Any kind of transportation has external costs. Someone else pays for a piece that appears to be FREE.

Transit has the greatest split between visible cost and FREE cost. As someone pointed out, fare box represents 15% to 56% of the operating costs of transit. Nothing was said about construction cost. The balance is provided by taxes, advertising revenue, employer contribution, etc.

There seems to be friction between people that don't want a particular solution rammed down their throats. I don't blame them. If you don't like the transportation system where you live, shop around, you can find one more to your liking. But for an individual to change the system that is in place? Unless you are Cody Pfansteihl or Shedd, good luck.

As for the comment on California reformulated gasoline. Someone is recovering some of the costs that are FREE in other states. California has a unique inversion problem. Not unique to California. Unique to those areas that have inversions. Does Needles have inversions? Even if Needles doesn't have inversions, I doubt Arnold will give you a FREE ride.