[Gllug] [OT] Times Article on ABD was Fighting a virus

[Richard Jones]

On Sun, Feb 18, 2007 at 02:01:49PM +0000, Adrian McMenamin wrote:
> In fact road pricing is a highly progressive form of taxation (in the UK
> at least - the US is a different picture). The wealthy have far more
> access to car based travel and will pay a proportionally greater part of
> their income under any likely UK road pricing or congestion charging
> scheme.

As to whether or not this is going to be a progressive tax: it depends
very crucially on whether poorer[*] people are able to find
alternative forms of transport, or whether their car usage (outside
London) is, in fact, necessary given the lack of alternatives.
Anyway, as I said originally: I am _not_ defending some sort of
"right" to use a car.

[*] I hardly want to argue about people who are so poor that they
cannot possibly afford a car.

> And nor is it ineffective. After all this the Greater London Linux Users
> Group and people ought to know better than to make that claim in the
> first city in the world to introduce a general road pricing scheme.
> Experience in London is that the scheme was more effective in cutting
> traffic volumes than its planners expected meaning there was less money
> to go to public transport than expected (oh, look, I've answered that
> point about tax too - not that I think paying tax to fund the NHS, my
> children's education or policing, or, yes, defence, is illegitimate in
> any case).

You may wish to read the article in this week's Economist which
refutes what you say above.  I won't sum it up here.

> I'd recommend reading "The Undercover Economist" for anybody who wants
> to know more.

I'd be very dubious about trusting a book called "The Undercover
Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why
You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!", but hey you never know.

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones
Red Hat UK Limited
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