Comment 6339

By seancb (registered) - website | Posted April 12, 2007 at 15:54:22

Excellent points... I was just out foraging for backup data (including "the high cost of free parking") but you beat me to that one so I won't stress it.

Here are some more quick summaries that help to illustrate the reality of this subsidy imbalance"

  1. "The Automobile Subsidy" ( http://www.assmotax.org/Releases/AMCT... ) Read this first as it's the most concise summary of the issues that I could find. It points out (among other things) that if gas tax alone were to provide for all direct automobile costs, it would have to be $3.50/gallon. If it were to also provide for pollution costs and emergency medical care, it would have to be $9 per gallon! My favorite quote is as follows: "This predisposition toward automobile use is plainly evident in the prevalent terminology: money spent on roads is called 'highway investment', while money spent on rails is called 'transit subsidy'".

  2. The social costs of driving ( http://www.progress.org/cobb01.htm ) Here is a more in-depth report regarding the true costs of propping up the car-centric culture: "The basic finding of this report is that the social costs of driving amount to at least $184 billion per year -- not including the $50 to $100 billion subsidy in free parking and or the cross-subsidy caused by congestion."

  3. "The Real Price of Gasoline" ( http://www.icta.org/doc/Real%20Price... -- pdf link ) If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, take a look at this report which calculates that the actual cost of a gallon of gas could be as high as $15.14 (taking into account all government subsidies of the oil industry in general).

  4. "The High Cost of Free Parking" As outlined by Ryan above. Here is a great 4-part writeup of the book (as found in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut transportation campaign bulletin): http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20050715/mt... http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20050725/mt... http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20050922/mt... http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20051024/mt...

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