3745 replies to this topic

[RFS]

Undesirables out of the neighborhoods? You realize if you can afford to park a car in NYC you are hardly able to be considered an "undesirable". Monthly parking can be $1000 a month alone.

I am not certain what your point is. Unless you mean keeping out the bridge and tunnel crowd.

 

My point is its a tax that makes life worse for poor people and no one else

[Coreyburger]

My point is its a tax that makes life worse for poor people and no one else

 

Ah yes, the poor people argument against congestion charges. The problem with this argument: most poor people in NYC don't have cars or rely on public transit, as it is in most cities (including our region, where lower income people use public transit at twice the rate of higher income)

[RFS]

Ah yes, the poor people argument against congestion charges. The problem with this argument: most poor people in NYC don't have cars or rely on public transit, as it is in most cities (including our region, where lower income people use public transit at twice the rate of higher income)

So too bad for the (many) who do drive? Especially those with families?  Poor people shouldn't drive in your perfect world I guess.  That's a luxury reserved for the select few

[Coreyburger]

So too bad for the (many) who do drive? Especially those with families?  Poor people shouldn't drive in your perfect world I guess.  That's a luxury reserved for the select few

 

Congestion charges, are on their face, look regressive. However, in practice they aren't because lower income people tend to drive less than higher income people. They can also be mitigated by using the congestion charging money to improve transit service and make biking/walking better.

[Mike K.]

Words like "tend to" and "less" are empty phrases. Individuals across the entirety of the income spectrum rely on vehicles, which is why there are literally as many vehicles on Vancouver Island as there are driving-age individuals.

 

The problem with these taxes, levies, surcharges or whatever you want to call them, is that they further segregate society between the haves and the have-nots. The measures are only effective at removing individuals on the lower end of the income spectrum from the equation while the behaviour of the haves continues on unabated, if not resulting in an increase due to changes in demand for road space.

 

Fees, surcharges and levies are not the all-lifting tide they are made out to be, and are, in reality, strong currents that widen societal schisms.

[sdwright.vic]

There it is. These fees do affect the poor, as the trucks that deliver the stuff they buy are going to have to pay these fees, which are thus handed down to them with a higher cost of goods. However, this fee is not deemed an attack against poor NYer's as they are not "seen" as the drivers or the ones causing the congestion.

I only disagreed with the ideal that this is meant to keep those "out of". There are plenty already there, they are just limited to subway and transit bus as their mode of transportation, as in NYC,a car is completely unaffordable.

[VIResident]

I found the decrease in pollution because of this tax very interesting. 

[sebberry]

Congestion charges, are on their face, look regressive. However, in practice they aren't because lower income people tend to drive less than higher income people. They can also be mitigated by using the congestion charging money to improve transit service and make biking/walking better.

 

While I don't count as 'poor', I don't have thousands of extra dollars to throw around every year.  The effect of increased taxation and fees for me is that I spend less at local businesses, eat out less and pay more attention to finding better deals.  Companies like Amazon are terrible for the local economy and Costco does nothing for the Victoria tax base, but where do you think I go to save a little money to offset the cost of someone else's ideology? 

[Victoria Watcher]

Companies like Amazon are terrible for the local economy and Costco does nothing for the Victoria tax base, but where do you think I go to save a little money to offset the cost of someone else's ideology? 

 

well as you sort of just stated these companies leave money in your pocket. that's good for the local economy.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 March 2019 - 05:21 PM.

[sebberry]

well as you sort of just stated these companies leave money in your pocket. that's good for the local economy.

 

It would be if that money left in my pocket wouldn't be siphoned off in carbon and other 'feel good' taxation.

[rjag]

While I don't count as 'poor', I don't have thousands of extra dollars to throw around every year.  The effect of increased taxation and fees for me is that I spend less at local businesses, eat out less and pay more attention to finding better deals.  Companies like Amazon are terrible for the local economy and Costco does nothing for the Victoria tax base, but where do you think I go to save a little money to offset the cost of someone else's ideology? 

 

Just wait till next week when the higher carbon tax kicks in and the continued ripple effect of increased costs for goods and services that 'progressives' say we can pay just that little bit more....I wonder how measurable the impact of this is compared to other similar economies that dont have a carbon tax ie Washington State who happen to have a thriving O&G industry. And apparently Washington GHG per capita is around the same as BC at approx 10 tons per capita 

[RFS]

Anyone who still sincerely believes the leftwing parties of today give a **** about poor or working class people are severely outdated

[DustMagnet]

Anyone who still sincerely believes the leftwing parties of today give a **** about poor or working class people are severely outdated

 

Just because a party's policies might benefit the rich, doesn't mean they actually care - it's only what the rich can do for them in turn that matters.  The machine is the machine.

 

(If musicians can sample then so can forum posters.)

[Nparker]

Much the same as anyone who sincerely believes that right wing parties care about fiscal prudence and small government.

[RFS]

[quote name="DustMagnet" post="485772" timestamp="1553873156"]

Just because a party's policies might benefit the rich, doesn't mean they actually care - it's only what the rich can do for them in turn that matters. The machine is the machine.

(If musicians can sample then so can forum posters.)[/quote

I completely agree

[lanforod]

While I don't count as 'poor', I don't have thousands of extra dollars to throw around every year.  The effect of increased taxation and fees for me is that I spend less at local businesses, eat out less and pay more attention to finding better deals.  Companies like Amazon are terrible for the local economy and Costco does nothing for the Victoria tax base, but where do you think I go to save a little money to offset the cost of someone else's ideology? 

 

I think that's a fallacy though. Most people who shop at Amazon and Costco would do so whether or not they were being taxed a carbon tax. It isn't a choice between 'shop local' and 'shop the best value' usually. Most people will choose the latter, and would just prefer the local option if it values (to them) roughly the same.

[sdwright.vic]

Anyone who still sincerely believes the leftwing parties of today give a **** about poor or working class people are severely outdated

Leftwing parties, right wing parties. Potato, potato, tomato, tomato.

[VIResident]

Just wait till next week when the higher carbon tax kicks in and the continued ripple effect of increased costs for goods and services that 'progressives' say we can pay just that little bit more....I wonder how measurable the impact of this is compared to other similar economies that dont have a carbon tax ie Washington State who happen to have a thriving O&G industry. And apparently Washington GHG per capita is around the same as BC at approx 10 tons per capita 

But will this tax decrease pollution? 

[Citified.ca]

Delayed by six months, Leigh Rd. connection between TCH and Langford Pkwy. just days from completion

https://victoria.cit...rom-completion/

[DustMagnet]

Good Lord man, that headline could be construed, at first glance, to suggest that this project that is merely days away from completion is suddenly now delayed for six months.  I was about to spit-take...