Posts
State Senator John Putney (R) has introduced a bill that would require bicyclists to get a license and pay a $10 license fee. This fee is basically a tax on people to ride their bikes. The bill says you don't need to license to ride on municipal streets, on designated bike paths, or in parades (which seems like pretty much anywhere people ride bikes). Money collected would be deposited in the road use tax fund.
This bill doesn't seem to accomplish much of anything, except extending government into your garage.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Bill Would Tax Bicyclists
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I think the bill is a response to the recent lawsuit by a Ragbrai rider's family. The idea would be that the $10 fee would go to road improvements to make them safer for riders. It wouldn't impact kids riding their bikes in the neighborhood but rather more serious riders who are venturing onto county roads that aren't always suited for bicycle use.
On the other hand the money could just be going into an insurance fund to pay the next multi-million dollar judgement against a county who doesn't have safe roads.
Channel 13 said that if you ride in RAGBRAI then you would not need the license.
You don't need a license if you're riding in a race with more than 30 people entered or if you're from out of state. Having said that, however,serious bicyclists in Iowa ride on Iowa highways at other times then RAGBRAI....or so I hear.
So what you are basically doing is taxing exercice to pay for roads when all you'd need to do is not give trucks a discount on their registrations.
Yes, by all means, bicyclists are destroying our infrastructure. It's not those big SUV's and trucks, it's those damn bikers.
I can't stand bicyclists, and I deal with them every day in Iowa City, but this license is a stupid idea. How are you going to enforce not letting someone ride outside their neighborhood without one of these licenses? What if they live in a downtown area, is that a neighborhood?
If paying for road improvements is such a big deal, lets tax cars based on how much fuel they use, or how many axles they have.
Has there been bicycle taxes in Iowa in the past? Local county or city permits? I think I remember seeing a sticker on an older bicycle years ago, but I could be wrong.
Yeah, this bill is a dumb idea.
Note on the truck license increase - I'd be OK with it if it meant that people bought trucks to actually use as trucks, not gas-hoggin' grocery getters. In my case, I'd probably get a 3 ton license and put my USDOT # on the side, like a lot of farmers do in Missouri. It would actually be less expensive.
Post a Comment