Such systems are problematic because it's not just a tax on a new bike, but an actual licence fee that you must pay every time ownership changes (so, a $20 used bike would also have to pay a licence fee, etc.) and because it's expected to fund general municipal cycling projects.
I don't know taxes in US, but in Canada, automobile drivers don't pay for municipal road infrastructure whatsoever through user fees (e.g. gas taxes and licence fees). The only money they pay is through property taxes, which is the same whether you bike or drive (in fact, might be higher for cyclists since they tend to spend more on higher-value central homes and instead of a cheaper suburban homes with more cars).
Road infrastructure for cars costs significantly more than for cycling ($3-8 million per km for the cheapest, basic urban roadway vs tens of thousands per km for bike infrastructure); so in effect every time someone rides a bicycle they are subsidizing the road costs for automobile use.
That is: cyclists already contribute disproportionately towards transportation funding.
Extra fees specifically for cyclists means that not only are cyclists expected to pay for infrastructure for automobile use, now people who don't ride bikes will be expected to contribute less (or nothing) towards cycling infrastructure. i.e. It reinforces the mindset that "cyclists should pay for their own bike lanes" (when cyclists already do through property taxes, while automobile users don't pay for their road infrastructure). Perhaps this is the only way in your community to get that funding at all, but if so, it is truly a sad state.
The extra hassle and expense of licensing is also a major way to discourage mass adoption of cycling, regardless of how much infrastructure it funds.
A basic one-time tax on strictly new bike sales (without the licence/registration aspect), where the money can only go towards bicycle-related community groups (therefore not diverting general revenue from normal active transportation/cycling budgets), might work, but it'd be a pretty strange political decision (new tax on behalf of a "special interest group").
Unless things really are so terrible that it's the absolute only way to get any funding at all... but advocating for a user-pay system of funding public infrastructure is not something we'd ever do up here. (Even though a truly user-pay system would massively benefit cyclists: our infrastructure is cheap, our externalized costs like environmental impacts are low, and we are healthier and need hospitals less!)
Christopher Chan
Executive DirectorEdmonton Bicycle Commuters' Society
10047 80 Ave (entrance in rear lane)
On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 12:06 PM,
<wormsign@gmail.com> wrote:
Has it always been 4? I wonder if they would adjust for inflation? The money will go almost half as far by now. I also wonder if this cuts from what would be paid for through a general fund or transportation fund.
Enzo Loconte
Board Secretary
Bikerowave
Ryan (and for the group) -
Here is some info on the Colorado Springs bike tax ($4 per bike, one time fee). Started in 1988, it has raised over $1M, and currently averages about $85,000 a year. In 2007 (probably height or program), they generated $128,000 and leveraged to get $1.45M in grants with it, awarded in 2008.
- Scott
Bicycle Longmont
G'Knight Ride
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike System funding - Bike tax?
From: Ryan Kragerud <
rjkragerud@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, March 18, 2013 8:53 am
To: The Think Tank <
thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Hey there,
Bicycle Longmont is working on a bike system funding project and we're in the research phase right now. Who out there is aware of innovative ways communities, states/provinces, are funding bike improvements? We've heard of Bike taxes, like in Colorado Springs where $4 is added to the price of every new bike sold, We've heard of options where local sales tax derrived from bike sales go toward infrastructure/bike projects.
Also - Oregon and Maine have surcharges on traffic infractions that go toward statewide funds that include grants that make biking and walking to school safer and to programs for adult and children bike education. Anyone aware of other sources of info on this topic?
Thanks,
Ryan Kragerud, President
Bicycle Longmont
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