Driving: America's newest favorite sin tax

[huckie]

Apparently, the policies of San Francisco are reaching out into the suburbs of DC. According to the Washington Post, Arlington is changing building codes to reflect the notion of a "don't build parking and cars won't come" and "tax the hell out of parking" mentalities. Today, SFMTA is hearing argument for and considering variable parking meter

Comments

[danthmanes]

Well it sounds like the problem is the politics of proposing a sin tax that carries along with it the promise of some great revenue source. That probably shouldn't be the goal of a sin tax. To me, it should be: reduce a behavior that is harmful to society and use any money collected to educate people as to why it's a "sin" and enforce the collection of the sin tax as well as other laws with respect to the sin (e.g., no alcohol or cigarettes to minors). I think this has been at least somewhat true of the cigarette tax. I agree with you that the savings are probably long term and that a sudden imposition of a large tax before, say, public transit has time to be demanded and then built, it too much pain too quickly. But that isn't an argument against the concept of a sin tax, it just means they should be phased in over time. Further, my point about gas taxes reducing construction projects wasn't just about reduced wear and tear on roads, it was also about not needing to build new roads or adding lanes to existing roads to satisfy our never ending thirst for capacity. Of course, public transit projects ain't cheap either, but I think that's the better place to spend the big bucks unless we we're willing to suffer ever increasing commute times. I admit this is a complicated issue, though. The Europeans have very heavy gas taxes, and they have wonderful public transit, but their cities have the kind of population density that makes it all possible. A truly extensive public transit system in LA? Very difficult proposition. But I think if you ratchet up gas prices over time, you could at least encourage the use of things like "park and ride" and Zip car to fill in the gaps in the transit system. Anyway, you may be right about the taxes in D.C., but some pain is a fair price to pay for a better society.