That's "progressive" as in "not regressive." In a Times op-ed, Owen Gutfreund laments the failure of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan for Manhattan, which would have levied an $8 tax on anyone driving south of 60th Street. A few high-powered Democratic members of the State Assembly nixed the plan on the grounds that it would disproportionately punish low-income residents of the outer-boroughs, who need their cars to commute. Gutfreund has a suggestion for how to get around this quandary, and still glean the environmental and mass transit funding benefits of congestion pricing: Charge more to drivers of inefficient, expensive vehicles. London already does this for SUVs, but Gutfreund believes a car's weight, price, gas mileage efficiency, and emission rating should also be taken into consideration.
Sounds great. But you can bet the car companies would throw a major fit.
--Dana Goldstein
