Originally Posted by
WizardOfBoz
Hold on now. I have no skin in the game here, and my Conservative self shouts out at me "They're just going to take that ten bucks, times hundreds of thousands of bikers, and put in in the general fund to enrich themselves and their political allies". So your impulse was my first impulse, Timothy.
On the other hand, it seems to me that if bike registration costs you ten bucks, and you pay it, you have a right to go to your local legislator AND STAND ON HIS OR HER THROAT to get bike lines put in, potholes fixed, dangerous intersections redesigned, MUPS, etc. In other words, ten bucks might be cheap leverage to get useful bike things done. Too, as a Conservative I believe in use taxes: taxes should fall on those that use public stuff. So cars should pay a license fee and taxes on gas should pay for roads. If we bikers want to use roads or MUPS, we should pay for em. Not fair to let the general public pay for our (bikers) convenience.
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Whut?? You gotta be kidding me. Firstly, I as a citizen of NC I already pay the same taxes as everyone else. I pay one of the largest gas taxes in the nation ostensibly to build and maintain roads. I pay sales tax ON MY VEHICLE, as well as property tax. County tax, city tax, sales tax, NC state income tax, taxes for licensing, insurance, sales tax on maintenance, tire and battery taxes, and all the road "use" fees associated with all that...every thing everyone else pays, at a substantially higher rate than some NC citizens currently using our roads and substantially lower rate than others. And you believe I should also pay another tax to ride my bicycle on the road?
Really?
What about pedestrians? What about joggers? Should we require a license to be purchased to walk or jog on a road or use a sidewalk? Yeah, absurd right? So tell me, what's the difference? Why should the rest of the citizenry of NC subsidize pedestrians and joggers who use taxpayer built infrastructure without them paying a "use fee"?
And you HONESTLY BELIEVE any of a $10 bicycle tax is going to go toward doing ANYTHING to improve cycling in NC? If you do, I have a bridge for sale.
Think people, think before you...