Making TTC fare free would cost over 1.25billion dollars extra subsidy per year. I am all for that extra subsidy but rather it be spent on improving service and infrastructure. That would better pay for 15min minimum bus frequency on all routes, new infrastructure like Waterfront LRT and PSDs, etc.
Congestion charge for cars could help raise a bunch of money and make driving downtown better.
but city council is too car-brained to implement this
Amen. And the money could be used for a lot of good transport wise (higher frequency buses, infrastructure improvements like platform screen doors and the waterfront LRT, etc).
i personally would be fine for free fares for those under the median wage, but there really needs to be funding from other areas. once again, in comparison to the billionaires who consolidate wealth, the people who do not pay the fare have no wealth to give. the digital services tax, congestion-
pricing, and the capital gains tax would all help redistribute wealth from those who can afford it to those without a 90% tax on billionaires, like in fdr's heydey in the states, would do more wonders for public services like transit than relying on the fares of those comparatively without
this article hints at my point here
I’m not sure about hiking the capital gains tax, though Trudeau’s plan to only hike it over certain amounts was reasonable. Capital gains is the accounting term for any return on investment, so taxing that less than income makes sense to encourage investment in economy.
who's profitting off of peoples' hard work?
No one. People profiting off investments and risk. It’s not just labour but also the capital (equipment, infrastructure) that reduces and enables labour. We’re getting off track but please review micro and macroeconomics.
i mean, if there's a system where one person is able to gain wealth without work, there must be another person in the system that works without gaining wealth. a system that does not charge those who can afford it ends up burdening those who are not wealthy
If you buy shares for instance, you get capital gains. The issue is that the super rich get paid through shares and investments more than through income (share options in executive remuneration packages). Ideally, you would close that loophole by taxing all remuneration as income but how is issue.
I would like to add that government has to fund other stuff too. Ontario is also underfunding healthcare, social services like shelters and mental health supports, jails (which is hilarious given how much our premier likes them), and education.
once again i'm pretty sure that a tax rate like in the new deal would actually be great for funding things. if the ultra-wealthy can be taxed like 90% to fund things, 10% of 100 million is still 10 million, an absurdly immense amount of money
Back to what I said, the research shows that the vast majority of fare evaders aren’t too poor to afford fare payment (just like the people who don’t pay for parking or evade taxes aren’t too poor either). I’m all for taxing billionaires more, the wealthy have a duty to. bsky.app/profile/jack...
As I said, I support free fares for poor (no one should skip food to pay their train ticket). My preference is for a universal basic income system to efficiently ensure everyone can get their basic needs met and targeted free fares for those below the low income cutoff.