Originally Posted by
TheHen
I already pay the road tax here. We have a state income tax that pays for our roads (I pay that). We have local property tax that pays for our roads (I pay that). We have a local parcel tax that pays for our roads (I pay that). My county gets federal money to replace the property tax that is not collected on our national forest and BLM land (I pay that). I have liability insurance for my cycling activities through my home-owners policy (I pay that). I am actually paying far more into the road pot than I am ever going to take out. At least one study indicates that cyclists, on average, pay ten times as much as they cost the government for road use. Motorists, on the other hand, pay about one-tenth of the governmental costs incurred. Perhaps a different question is in order here about the freeloading motorists.
By the way, at least in my state, automobile registration does not pay for roads in any way. It partially off-sets the bureaucratic costs of maintaining the vehicle licensing database.
These are all of the points I would make and refer to for the majority of cyclists that pay those taxes you mention. Especially the part that cyclists don't pay for the roads, but they also don't anywhere near the wear and tear on them, comparing one driver to one cyclist, either.
The only real argument I could make in favor of charging cyclists would be to pay for actual use of the road and that they may cause inconvenience of automobiles, which drive much faster compared to cyclists. If you have one cyclist riding in the road, say 45 MPH speed limit and they choose to take the lane for safety reasons, it may potentially inconveniencing dozens of drivers if they are unable to pass safely. But such arguments like this would be shortly shot down I would hope in most states due to all of the points mentioned by the poster, TheHen.
Misconceptions related to the roads and also cycling are:
(1) User fees (gas taxes primarily) pay for roads. This is true. It is also true that many other taxes that pretty much everyone pays (including cyslists), pay for roads, reiterating what poster
TheHen said.
(2) Cyclists don't have a right to the road--Right on the
sidewalk!. If this is understood to
not be the case, they don't pay taxes and shouldn't have the right. Not true. See above (1)
I was not aware of either of these facts until the past 3-4 years, from information I came across when taking classes and from these forums, so sharing such information is always a great idea, assuming you like to learn, while not assuming others know because of the setting (a bicycle forum) or being concerned of "talking down" or telling someone something that they might already know. That is how information is learned and shared.
I say that because I perhaps do not read certain threads or topics, but I don't seem to see the issues of road funds brought up here all that much (I did see it brought up recently related to elections in November with one candidate bringing up the same idea of this thread topic--making cyclists paying for roads), and the fact that they are paid for by not just autmobile user fees (gas taxes and registration).
Furthermore, this was made aware to me by the fact that the percentage of road funds paid for by user fees are only decreasing and becoming less than the majority in some states.
See article:
http://subsidyscope.org/transportati...hways/funding/