Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

Re:Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to... by eli_gottlieb on Sunday August 21, 2016 @07:28AM (#12330487)

>If overall quality of life increases, I am personally unconcerned with income inequality.

Rising inequality generally hasn't improved quality-of-life for everyone.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to... by sokoloff on Sunday August 21, 2016 @07:45AM (#12330542)

Of course it harms the person at the very bottom of the stack.

But, would you rather live as a 10th percentile American today, a 50th percentile serf in feudal England, a 50th percentile American colonist, or even a 50th percentile American in the 1950s? It's only the very last that's even close, IMO.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to... by eli_gottlieb on Sunday August 21, 2016 @06:59PM (#12333119)

I think that in order to answer that question, you have to know how steeply well-being falls with reduced income. The poorest and least egalitarian counties in the United States today, for instance, tend to have life-expectancies below those of many Third World countries. Overly severe inequality really seems to make it so there's no bottom to the barrel to hit!

[ Parent | on HN ]