Re:Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be...
by freeone3000 on Friday February 14, 2020 @01:50PM
(#22329104)
Honestly, subsidizing short commmutes is an idea I can get behind, even though I feel all of the gains would be captured by landlords.
Re:Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be...
by eru on Sunday February 16, 2020 @05:46AM
(#22340968)
You can do this by introducing a carbon tax (that you levy on eg petrol as well) and a road congestion charge.
Distribute the proceeds equally amongst all citizens. And in effect, anyone who commutes less than the average person gets a net positive payment. (Or technically: anyone who uses less carbon or causes less congestion than the average person.. Someone who commutes 100km by bicycle would still get a net payment. That's fine.)
But yes, these you are right, there's a danger that landholders (landlords and owner occupiers) capture the gains, even in my proposed scheme.
You deal with that via a land value tax.
From the point of view of economics, those ideas are orthodoxy. Good luck getting them past any political process anywhere in the world, though.
Germany has a system a bit like what you are describing, only that it's the government giving you tax rebates for long commutes. It's not a good idea.
Ponder the opposite: why not subsidize short commutes instead and give people assistance to pay the higher rent closer to the place of work? That would be much greener, too.
Just to be clear, that would be silly as well. Let workers and employers negotiate what they want to compensate and how much.