I\u2019m guessing most of us accept our competitive free market system. You pretty much have to, otherwise you\u2019ll be called a commie.<\/p>\n
And yet, even free-market believers seem to start doubting when they can feel the free market reaching deeper and deeper into their own wallets.<\/p>\n
As Chris Sullivan<\/a> has been documenting every morning, and as Danny Westneat observed in his Seattle Times column<\/a> Sunday, the new higher tolls for solo drivers in the luxury lane are hitting the $15 maximum every rush hour.<\/p>\n More on local tolls<\/strong>: SR 520 toll rates will increase this summer, here\u2019s how much<\/a><\/p>\n He even published a screenshot from the Washington Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) website showing that last week, solo drivers were paying the $15 maximum to save exactly three minutes driving from Renton to Auburn.<\/p>\n Which sounds ridiculous when you put it that way. But who are we to judge how people spend their lawfully-earned money? Have you seen what the airlines charge for the extra three inches of seat width in first class?<\/p>\n There\u2019s this criticism of the luxury lanes as being insensitive to the plight of the people in the slum lanes.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s think this through: In the example of driving from Renton to Auburn last week, where the rich people saved all of three minutes \u2013 the flip side to that is everybody else got a bargain! Just for exercising three minutes worth of patience, they saved 15 bucks. That\u2019s the equivalent of making $300 an hour!<\/p>\n I say if rich people are OK with getting ripped off like that \u2013 let them pay. And let them pay whatever the state can get away with.<\/p>\n More from Dave Ross<\/strong>: If popularity creates immunity, maybe the \u2018Belltown Hellcat Bandit\u2019 should run for president<\/a><\/p>\n I know Washington voters have an aversion to imposing special tax burdens on the rich; I know a lot of you can\u2019t wait to repeal the capital gains tax in November. But in the case of the toll lanes \u2013 the rich are freely choosing to pay. No one\u2019s forcing them. Why do they need an artificial toll limit of $15 to protect them from their own choices?<\/p>\n The toll lanes have taught highway departments what the airlines learned long ago \u2013 people will pay for privileges that make them feel special. And considering the huge gap between tax revenue and what it actually costs to build and maintain these highways \u2013 it\u2019s time to give them what they want for whatever they\u2019re willing to pay.<\/p>\n Listen to \u201cSeattle\u2019s Morning News\u201d with Dave Ross and Colleen O\u2019Brien weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n