Ben for Prez: Secretary of the Department of the New American Dream
Ben is running for President. Here's how I'm helping out.
Michael D. Eichler
Secretary of the Department of the New American Dream
Our country's urban form, the land upon which we perform all our daily activities, is perhaps the most unappreciated resource we have in this country. The land we inhabit and the transportation we use to traverse it are tightly connected. So connected that it is inappropriate to have separate departments for them. As such, under the Carver administration the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be joined into one department called the Department of the New American Dream, with one set of united policy goals. These goals will work to address many of the most pressing issues facing our country today: climate change, dependence on foreign oil, urban sprawl, environmental degradation, traffic congestion, affordable housing, and the mortgage crisis.
Redefining the American Dream The Carver administration will redefine the American dream. No longer will it be the heteronormative, suburban ideal of 2.5 kids, two cars in the garage and a white picket fence around a cute single-family home. Instead, it will be defined by real true quality of life issues that can't be captured in a Norman Rockwell picture: ease of movement between home, work and third places; pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods within walking distance to important destinations such as schools, work sites, farmers markets and corner grocers; and clean air and water. The following policy initiatives will help all Americans attain this new American dream. In order to help enable this new American Dream, a "New American Dream" trust fund (NADTF) will be established to help provide the basic components.
Fuel Tax
This policy initiative has two major prongs:
A) No longer will the American people be the whipping boy of OPEC: The cost of gasoline will be fixed in price on the day that this policy is enacted, regardless of the true price of a barrel of gasoline. Americans will no longer break their banks one month when gas is expensive, and experience a windfall the next month when it's cheap. If the true price of the gasoline is more expensive than the fixed price, the difference will be covered by the NADTF. If the true price is lower, the extra revenue will go into the trust fund. This will allow the American people to budget their monthly fuel costs more effectively.
B) It Aint Gonna Last, So Let's Start Using It Wisely: The cost of gasoline will increase annually by 5% plus the rate of inflation. This additional revenue will go into the NADTF, where it will be used to buffer the American people from fluctuating fuel prices and provide funding for transportation initiatives described below. This will have the effect of slowly reducing fuel consumption and will send cost signals to the American public that the precious resource that is gasoline must be rationed and used wisely.
Employer Tax
For each job at a work site, an employer will be taxed $100 per year for each mile that those jobs are located away from high quality public transportation. This tax will provide incentives for jobs sites to be located close to transit, which will help meet our goals of reducing congestion and pollution, and increasing mobility for Americans. If an employer provides high quality transit services to its employees, this tax will be waived. This additional revenue will be added to the NADTF and used for the transportation projects described below.
Parking Tax
Each parking space in the country will be taxed at the rate of $100 per year. While this cost will be negligible for individual households, major employers, shopping centers and other community sites will be further encouraged to locate near high quality public transit facilities, or provide such facilities themselves. All revenue from this tax will also be added to the NADTF.
Transit Funding
The NADTF will be used almost exclusively for financing transit projects in our metropolitan areas. These funds will be provided to state and local governments in order to provide increased mobility to our population centers. Transit projects operating on dedicated right-of-way (including subways and bus rapid transit) will be federally funded at the 95% level, requiring only a 5% match from the state. New bus or light rail service that operates in mixed traffic will be federally funded at 50%. New highways will receive only 5% of their funding from the federal program, as it is assumed that they will all be toll projects funded through public/private partnerships or through state or regional toll authorities. A portion of the trust fund will be used for maintaining the existing interstate highway system on the condition that these roads are not widened. This policy will greatly increase the amount of public transit infrastructure available to Americans, unlocking new job and home sites for those uninterested or unwilling to travel by private automobile.
Travel Benefits
Unemployed and underemployed Americans will receive free transit travel throughout the country on every system. Employed Americans will have their transit benefits provided to them by their employers, at an amount that covers at least 80% of the cost for 80% of the employees. All Americans will be able to afford to take transit to their jobs.
Non-Motorized Transportation
Biking and walking as well as other non-motorized forms of transportation have their own benefits. The policies laid out here will encourage jobs and households to be closer to each other and closer to transit facilities, making non-motorized transportation more viable. However, portions of the NADTF will be allocated to bicycle and pedestrian facilities and safety projects, providing even more mobility options to the American people.
Home Ownership
The sale of all new or existing homes that are more than one mile away from high quality transit will be taxed by the government at a rate of 1% per mile. This revenue will add to the NADTF, which will also be used to subsidize the construction of high quality multi-family units around transit. New buildings wishing to qualify for the subsidy must be within one mile of an elementary school, and within one mile of a farmers market. These neighborhood resources are also eligible for NADTF funding. Variable interest rate loans will be a thing of the past. All Americans wishing to purchase a home within 10 miles of their job will qualify for a fixed-rate mortgage such that payments will equal 35% of household income at most. Home-ownership will again be attainable for all Americans, not just for those wealthy enough or those willing to drive for hours to get to their jobs.
Freight Transportation
A moderate 3% national tax will be placed on all non-essential goods, and large freight vehicles will be taxed at a rate proportional to the damage they cause to the roadways. This revenue will be used to reinvest in the nation's freight rail infrastructure, with an aim towards getting at least 50% of all freight moved in America back on the rails within 10 years. This will free up valuable roadway space, create safer driving conditions for those who continue to drive, and greatly increase the fuel efficiency of goods movement.
No longer will car be king. My fellow Americans, for far too long this country has allowed its transportation infrastructure to crumble, providing too many incentives to travel by single-occupant automobile along congested highways and arterial streets. This will end with the Carver administration: jobs and households will be located closer to each other, and closer to high quality transit. Our cities and neighborhoods will be green places filled with parks and destinations instead of cars and parking lots. It may be a tough transition from business as usual, but with the strong guidance and leadership of the Carver administration, I believe we can get there.
3 comments:
Nice ideas, all, but a couple of quips:
First, it seems that the economics are a little funny, here. For example, you say:
"If the true price of the gasoline is more expensive than the fixed price, the difference will be covered by the NADTF. If the true price is lower, the extra revenue will go into the trust fund. This will allow the American people to budget their monthly fuel costs more effectively."
In these sorts of situations, an equilibrium tends to form that takes into account the regulation. The "true price" will be almost impossible to assess, since those setting prices will take their regulatory constraints into account. If a gas station operator knew he had to sell gas at $3.50 a gallon, but could still make a profit, in theory, at $3.00, he would have the choice between setting his "true price" at $3 and giving $.50 a gallon to the government, or setting it at $3.50 and keeping it all for himself. For that matter, why not set it at $4 and get a government payout? In a capitalist system, the worth of goods is determined only by what people are willing to pay for them, so I'm not sure how this would work.
My other issue is that a lot of this is uncomfortably urban-centric. I live in the city, and like it, but I think it's short-sighted to think we can impose that lifestyle on everyone. My father, for example, researches sea lions for a living. He spent a month, this summer, living in a tent on an island, doing mark/recapture work, I can tell you with fair certainty that his work site was nowhere near reliable public transit, but I think it would stupid to penalize either him or his employer because his choice of career doesn't conform to your notion of how jobs should function. We'll always need not just wildlife researchers, but park rangers, rural health care providers, miners, and any number of other similar jobs. Particular given many environmentalists' encouragement of "locovore" eating habits, it seems like deincentivizing domestic farming would be a catastrophic mistake, and this plan would seem likely to make farming within the US astronomically expensive. And what of alternative energy? Surely *somebody* will have to maintain those wind farms out on the plains? Like I said, the sentiment is good. Just be careful not to assume that because you can throw a suit on every morning and bike to the office, everybody else can necessarily do the same.
Good points, Andrew. You can be my undersecretary for rural/non-urban issues.
OMG...SEXY!!!
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