I have a simple proposal. The Bay is considering adding between a $0.01 and $0.015 sales tax to fund #transit (otherwise, local transit will enter a death spiral). This is fine and all (well, it’s not fine, it’s a symptom of how incompetently run the Bay Area is that we can’t Just Fund Transit without having to put it on the ballot every few years), but I sort of feel like it’s creating the wrong incentive. How about, instead of that, we add a $1 tax on every Waymo, Uber, Lyft, and taxi fare?
Of course, it’s not possible to know whether that would truly work, because our regulators are also incompetent and captured by who they are supposed to regulate (CPUC requires rideshare services to submit annual reports, except that Lyft complained, so they went ‘being a regulator is too hard after all, guess we just won’t bother’, and now those data don’t exist after all). But, on the other hand, citywide in SF, the stats are 9 million VMT per day. For $0.15/mile, you could close the funding gap on the entire #BART system (and incentivize people to take transit, too).
Come on, you useless fucks. We make ourselves out to be the center of innovation for the entire country. We are supposed to be showing how we can make government work to support everyone, not just the rich. We are supposed to be showing how we can dream big. A fucking regressive-ass sales tax is the best you got?