Comment by lotsofpulp
9 days ago
“Rent” needs to better defined at this point.
At least some portion of utilities and tax charges pay for ongoing maintenance and investment to provide expected quality of life. Similar to how rent for a home eventually pays for a new roof or other repairs.
The profit margin component of rent is probably what most are referring to in this discussion, but presumably tax and (government owned) utilities don’t have that.
Government utilities fo have a profit margin, they aren't a charity.
This context is about a profit that gets distributed to shareholders, which obviously does not benefit the payer. Whatever "profit" a government owned utility earns is presumably, eventually re-invested into the utility eventually benefiting the payer.