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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   35585 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 28, 2022

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Primarily, one issue is that there is no mechanism for the money acquired from the people willing to pay to access to road to end up compensating the people who choose not to use the road because of the price.

They are compensated as long as the money is spent on something that benefits them. It could be spent on some public service, given back as a rebate, or used to lower taxes.

So if the default solution is "just add a congestion price; that'll fix the problem; don't need more roads; screw the people who can't afford it", it's going to be tough. Those people still really want roads and access to them. They probably can't just go buy a close substitute.

The money can be given back in a targeted way. It could be given to poor drivers such that no one won't be able to afford the congestion charge and everyone will be better off.

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