Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
Location does not matter, square footage of city used does.
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It does, but there are probably better ways to account for that.
For example, people who live very far from work use a lot more city services in that transportation infrastructure must be built and maintained to handle this load.
Gas tax works a bit. Until you have electric cars. Toll roads work, but are expensive to implement and maintain.
Building transit to a low density community, far from services, and employment centres is way more expensive. You could charge more for transit, but now you're punishing low income people who have fallen victim to bad planning practices that leave all the affordable housing on the fringes of the city, which are notoriously underserved by transit (see: challenges providing transit to low density, far flung communities). Now you have low income people paying too much for transit, and also spending less time with their children, and putting them at an immediate disadvantage.
Where people live matters a lot, and the current property tax model, combined with urban planning practices, doubles down on forcing people to the edges of the city because of its artificial affordability.