Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Now They've Done It: A Sin Tax on...Bikes
Townhall.com ^ | March 8, 2013 | Lincoln Brown

Posted on 03/08/2013 5:22:06 PM PST by Kaslin

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last
To: Jonty30

Courts would disagree. Not just in the case of bicyclists, either.


41 posted on 03/08/2013 9:41:50 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

I was just meeting one absurd statement with another. Any taxes that would have to be charged need to reflect actual costs that bikes inflict on roads. Very few people, and there bikes weigh enough to do any damage on the roads.

I am not advocating everybody ride a bike, but if they did, there would be no such thing as pot holes and roads would only have to be replaced about every 500 years.

My main opposition to taxing bicyclists is that, for low income earners that is often their only way around. Their alternative, if bicycling were to be made unaffordable, is simply dependency, because they wouldn’t be able to afford to work at all. We Freepers bitch about the dependents not working, so what do some here want to do, make those close to dependency dependent.

I personally will gladly absorb whatever small cost that a bicyclist might cost, in terms of road, knowing that they might be working as a dishwasher, as opposed to being on welfare. Sure, some might be some jerk yuppie, who makes if hard on everybody, but most bicyclists are not jerky yuppies.


42 posted on 03/08/2013 9:52:44 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

The argument for bicycles’ lack of wear on the road also applies to motorcycles. Yet motorcycles have to pay road tax to maintain the roads and signals, and bicycles don’t. They should have to pay like motorcycles, or motorcycles should stop being taxed.


43 posted on 03/08/2013 10:21:51 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

I would also point out that bicyclists cannot be held responsible for their misbehavior on the roads. They have no license to prove they are familiar with the road rules, or to be taken away for misbehavior. They display no license plates for other road users to report misbehavior to the authorities with.

You want to be an equal road user, you have to accept equal responsibilities in my book. Otherwise, you stay on the sidewalk.


44 posted on 03/08/2013 10:23:57 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

While I agree with you that motorcycle wear on the road is fairly minimal, more than bicycles and less than cars, the best way to handle it is that roads get paid through tax on gasoline, not any other tax. That’s something to lean on politicians about. Politicians should not be allowed to get away with sneaking other taxes through to pay for things that other taxes were originally set up to do.


45 posted on 03/08/2013 10:28:24 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

If you want bicyclists to be an equal partner, they need an equal share of the road. That would also mean licensing kids, and fining them directly and impounding their bikes when they break a rule on the road.


46 posted on 03/08/2013 10:30:20 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

Actually, they cause the same amount of wear in multiple tests - negligible to undetectable. Zero equals zero.

Also, what of diesel, electric and natural gas powered cars? If you only tax gasoline, why should these people get a free ride?

Tax *all* road users or tax none. No free riders.


47 posted on 03/08/2013 11:23:01 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

Don’t have a problem with that, as that is what other countries do with bicycles. But no equal share until they are equally regulated and responsible - that means licensing, registration, safety inspection, operator licensing and appropriate use taxation. If I have to do it for a motorcycle, they should be held to the same standard.

Otherwise? Stay on the sidewalk.


48 posted on 03/08/2013 11:24:51 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

People wear out sidewalks, when they walk on them. So they should be charged a walking tax to pay for it.


49 posted on 03/08/2013 11:27:44 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

Pedestrians do not wear down sidewalks beyond the normal weathering caused by exposure to the atmosphere. Proven by multiple studies. Sorry.

Also, more proof that bicyclists don’t obey traffic rules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YEmBBWdxwQ


50 posted on 03/08/2013 11:34:58 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

I guess you’d rather have a new welfare recipient than foregoing any neglible tax revenue collected from bicycles. That’s a reasonable trade-off in your mind, I guess.

Now, just to be clear, I am not necessarily against collecting some form of taxation, the best way being upon the purchase of the bicycle, rather than trying to collect a yearly fee. And it certainly wouldn’t be worth the time for the cops to pursue all bicycles to ensure their fees are paid. You gonna pay a $60/hour cop to ensure a $25.00 yearly fee is paid?

However, if you consider the nearly neglible wear on the roads or the fact that bicycles don’t need much room, the amount of taxation would be very small, pretty much negligible. If you ratio the road taxes on a $25,000 car to what it would be on a $600 bicycle, it really is almost nothing.


51 posted on 03/08/2013 11:40:05 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7AVC1YCcO0

or this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXPb3nnqdDo

or this? The bikers weren’t even on the road and this driver still wanted them off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFM5QiAd3QA

or this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqjkAcLHtr8

I can also produce a thousand videos showing how drivers routinely try to harm bicyclists, at no fault of theirs.


52 posted on 03/08/2013 11:43:10 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

Who pays for the bike paths? I’m not allowed to drive a motorized vehicle on them.


53 posted on 03/08/2013 11:46:25 PM PST by Alaska Wolf (I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

Then you should stop taxing motorcycles as well. Same logic.

Motorcycles need the same room as a bicycle (less when going up hill, actually).

Motorcycles cause the same wear (or lack thereof) on the roads as bicycles.

Motorcycles pay a yearly fee that’s not based on the value of the vehicle.

It’s not really worth paying a cop to go after motorcycles for their yearly fee either. But they do that anyway.

I just want the fees to be fair and equitable for all, and for bicyclists to be able to be held responsible for their actions like any other motorist. Conduct they get away with would get my motorcycle license pulled and my bike impounded in a heartbeat and that has to stop. They need to have some skin in the game and they sure as hell don’t have that now.


54 posted on 03/08/2013 11:46:33 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

The problem with that is I can set up a camera on any busy street and most motorists so recorded will not be behaving badly - but the majority of the bicyclists WILL be.


55 posted on 03/08/2013 11:47:39 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

How about this sample, hm?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=dfZJOoemd40


56 posted on 03/08/2013 11:49:41 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

Also, low income people won’t ride bicycles *now*, even in places where they are subsidized.


57 posted on 03/09/2013 12:10:00 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: dalereed

Huh? You are out of your cotton picking mind


58 posted on 03/09/2013 12:46:10 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin

LOLOL - actually, the republican has a good idea.


59 posted on 03/09/2013 12:56:31 AM PST by patton (“Really? Have you tried chewing cloves?”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Baynative

Interesting how the media responds to a little tittytwister.


60 posted on 03/09/2013 5:29:17 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson