Item — HN Reader

It would be the "right thing to do"™ if New York already didn't collect tax on the vehicles purchased. These include - registration fee, vehicle plate fee, county use tax, sales tax, title certificate fee of $50.00 and MCTD fee (see https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/how-estimate-registration-fe... and https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/sales-tax-information ). Collecting a toll for using a road in addition to all these taxes and fees paid to the state is just another kind of recurrent tax - but how fair is it to pay tax for the same thing, again and again (kind of like "double taxation")?

In India, we specifically pay a separate "road tax" to the State when purchasing a vehicle ( https://indianauto.com/stories/road-tax-india-different-stat... ), and the idea behind it is that the government needs money to build and maintain the road. Despite this, in the last 2 decades, the government has also introduced tolls on many state and national highways. In another decade or two, I expect even city corporations and municipalities to make road use a "subscription service" for all vehicle owners. /s

2 comments

I pay taxes on every purchase which are used to fund public transit, but I still pay per use. I don't see why it isn't fair to also charge a usage fee on cars so that drivers feel the more immediate costs of a choice to drive somewhere.

They can tax as much as they want. The taxes on car ownership and fuel consumption are way way too low across the country to account for the costs they incur.

And that's how you tax the poor and the middle-class, and restrict their mobility by not investing in affordable public transportation. (Don't forget that in the US, you are forced to own a vehicle due to the lack of affordable and good public transportation). Taxes aren't meant just for building infrastructures but are also a mean to reduce income inequality and provide opportunities for those neglected or exploited by the society. Taxing the poor or the middle class too much works against this principle. But I guess that's too "socialist" for most Americans.

Really I kinda don't care. The problems of fossil fuel emissions are urgent and will also burden the working class more than wealthy. In this instance, we're talking about the 10 square miles of the US that is most densely packed with public transit. But everybody needs to start feeling this heat soon. EVs are much better but there's just an insane among or driving infrastructure that should not be necessary.

In NYC and even other cities you really aren't forced to have a car, that's a huge generalization borne out of much more suburban areas. I live in Seattle and myself and many friends don't have cars, yet we get on just fine. In NYC, especially Manhattan, a car is a liability.