Quote:
Originally Posted by rmyers
Sorry man...I have major propblems with your assumptions.
#1 Are you telling us that there are not enough mass-transit options in CA now. Does this mean if I go to get on a public bus, it will be full and I have to stand up? I don't live in California, but if I did, and they wanted to raise my taxes to increase public transportation, I would want to see actual proof that the current system cannot handle the needs and as a result, buses, trams, and other forms of public transportation or just to full and people are having to wait too long, and the current infrastructure is over-burdened. What good does 100 more empty buses do for the transportation system or climate change?
|
The money could be spent in several ways
1) replace 20 year old busses with new models that are more fuel efficient and less polluting
2) reduce fares so that more people choose to take the bus
3) buy more busses and increase the frequency of certain routes/add new routes
4) same goes for comuter trains.
100 empty buses don't help to reduce total vehicle emissions. But if the money is properly spent it will help. And rember, this tax is $0.09/gal so it works out to 50-100 bucks a year, depending on how much gas you use. It is not an income tax, its a consumption tax. The more you contribute to the problem, the more help you provide to the solution.
Think of it this way, would you (this is a general question by the way) rather have a gas tax, a hp cap, or a fuel economy minimum? The gas tax is the least restrictive. I'm thinking that global warming is a crock, but air quality in LA is one of the worst in the world. Part of that has to do with geography, some is industry, some is from cars. They aren't asking people from other states to fix their problem. They aren't asking people who have made ecofriendly choices to solve the problem. They are saying "you are making this mess, you clean it up"