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Re:The Happy, Healthy Capitalists of Switzerland by jandrese on Monday November 04, 2019 @01:35PM (#21444794)
All personal transport is heavily subsidized. Especially automobiles unless you live in an area that is completely covered in toll roads.
Re:The Happy, Healthy Capitalists of Switzerland by Annatar on Tuesday November 05, 2019 @12:48AM (#21449993)
Considering all the taxes car owners pay in Switzerland, such as street tax, the vignette, fuel tax (which gets completely misappropriated, for public transportation no less, while the car owners sit in traffic jams every day), how are private cars subsidized? The "milk cow" initiative caused a scandal when it was found out that the money drivers have been paying for years in fuel taxes was being misappropriated to fill budget holes elsewhere for decades! How are cars subsidized?
Re:The Happy, Healthy Capitalists of Switzerland by jandrese on Tuesday November 05, 2019 @09:46PM (#21459281)
In the US the gas tax is only covers about 20% of the road budget in most states, the rest comes from other sources like income and property taxes. Public transport however is expected to be entirely self sufficient and is held up as an example of the failure of public projects when it ends up being more expensive than driving a car if you don't account for 80% of the roads funding.
Re:The Happy, Healthy Capitalists of Switzerland by Annatar on Sunday November 10, 2019 @03:10AM (#21497025)
That's in the U.S., but we are discussing Switzerland, not the U.S. here, and in Switzerland, the taxes private car owners pay generate huge surpluses which are then embezzled by the federal government to plug up budget holes elsewhere, as well as for subsidizing public transportation. Meanwhile, car owners in Switzerland must sit in traffic jams at least twice per day because no new roads are being built, just the existing ones maintained.