Monday, March 31, 2008

Good news on congestion pricing


Well, good news in New York at least. Today the New York city council approved a congestion pricing measure to create a $8 charge for driving in downtown NY. If you're wondering why I'm such a big fan of a new tax, think of it this way.

Normal taxes raise money for the government and have the extra effect of discouraging work. Congestion pricing raises money for the government while ensuring that there won't be any traffic jams. Hopefully this policy will catch on in the rest of North America pretty soon.

1 comment:

Scruffy Dan said...

Really this is just an example of a Pigovian tax.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigovian_tax
It is much better to tax the 'bad' than to tax the 'good'