On February 20, Washington State house democrats released a proposed $10-billion transportation package that would increase taxes on gasoline, car-tabs, and even introduce a bicycle fee in order to raise money to fund improvements to their transportation infrastructure. The bicycle fee would impose an additional $25 fee on all bikes $500 or more. This would put a 5% tax on a bike costing $500, whereas the proposed vehicle excise tax in the package is 0.7%.
When Dale Carlson, owner of Bike Tech shops in Olympia, Lakewood, and Tacoma, voiced his concerns, Representative Ed Orcutt wrote “You claim that it is environmentally friendly to ride a bike. But if I am not mistaken, a cyclists [sic] has an increased heart rate and respiration. That means that the act of riding a bike results in a greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider. Since CO2 is deemed to be a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, bicyclists are actually polluting when they ride.”
The email quickly spread around the cycling community which caused outrage and disbelief. This prompted an apology from Orcutt, the ranking Republican on the state House’s transportation committee, for making “a point [not] worthy of even mentioning.”
However, the larger debate still looms: should cyclists pay taxes like car drivers do? Cyclists discuss their distaste about the lack of safe bike lanes in cities, yet when a bill is introduced to provide these funds they don’t want to pay it. The bill includes $60 million for improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists; the bike tax is projected to raise $1 million.
“The idea of bicyclists paying for some of the infrastructure they are using is one which merits consideration,” Orcutt stated in his apology email.
The biggest problem that Carlson has with the bill is that the bicycling tax targets small-business owners while leaving larger retailers unscathed like Wal-Mart that sell cheaper models. “It penalizes people for buying a nice bike, and it puts all the burden on a small segment of the industry, the struggling small-business people – ‘Oh, here we go, here’s another thing we have to comply with and pay our accountants to deal with,’” Carlson said. “It’s kind of the same as a $1000 [tax] on a $25000 car.”
An obvious argument against the bike tax is the reduced emissions produced from riding a bicycle. The US government even provides tax credits on electrical vehicles, up to $7500 depending on the value of the vehicle. I do not ride my bike because I am an environmental activist. I ride my bike because it’s my only option. I would support a bicycling fee if it meant an improvement on the current state of bicycling infrastructure. But I don’t think this flat rate fee on expensive bikes is the best way to implement it.
A bike tax should be based on the value of the bike, and it should include all bikes.
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