New stealth tax just dropped: people should be forced to purchase $16-$21 monthly “solidarity levy” ticket for public transport, regardless of whether or not they ever use such services, Berlin’s deputy mayor and transport tsar has suggested.
Berlin’s transport tsar said all those living within the boundaries of the city should be forced to buy monthly tickets for the local public transport system, regardless of whether or not they use the service.
Bettina Jarasch, a Green party politician who also serves as the city’s deputy mayor, suggested the implementation of the measure after the apparent success of a recent summer scheme that saw Germans charged only €9 per month for public transport in order to help curb the impact of inflation during the summer months.
According to a report by Bild, Jarasch believes that a mandatory charge of between €15 and €20 ($16-$21) for public transport will further to bump revenue for public transport services while keeping prices low for individual users.
“I’m increasingly thinking about a solidarity levy of 15 to 20 euros a month for all Berliners,” the politician remarked, while also noting that the reduction in the price of public transport has seen a significant uptick in usage across the country.
However, opposition parties have already been quick to react to the possibility of a forced purchase arrangement, with a spokesman for the opposition Christian Democratic Union party claiming that forcing people to pay for the service would only further hurt normal people who are already under pressure thanks to the cost of living crisis.
“It’s good if the 9-euro ticket gets the Senate to think. However, this must not lead to new additional burdens due to a compulsory ticket for all Berliners, especially not in times of galloping inflation,” the spokesman said.
“What Green Senator Jarasch has now indicated to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, that everyone should co-finance the transport company, leads to new insecurities,” he continued. “The SPD, the Greens and the Left must not make Berlin more and more expensive.”
Green Fail: Dependent on Russian Gas, Now Germany Fires Up Coal Power Stations https://t.co/ojbQAd6eeI
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 20, 2022
The Green party tsar’s suggestion that everyone should pay for public transport comes at a time when authorities in the country are desperately searching for ideas that will help lower the country’s energy usage.
One of the plans conjured up to this end was the €9 monthly public transport ticket, which was rolled out in the hopes of curbing car usage in the country while also cutting costs for those suffering from inflation.
However, while the scheme appears to have been largely successful so far, Germany’s energy security has only gotten more precarious since the ticket’s introduction due to Russia dramatically curbing the country’s monthly gas supply.
As a result, climate-crazy politicians in the country have even given the go-ahead to the burning of high-emission coal in order to keep the lights on, while experts are also pushing for leftist ministers to relent and allow the country’s soon-to-be decommissioned nuclear power stations to continue operating.
“No sensible person can seriously generate additional power gaps in a crisis like this, where there is already a lack of gas,” one opposition party politician said in relation to the phasing out of nuclear, deriding any arguments to keep to the planned termination schedule as “purely ideological”.
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