Grist: Why an additional road tax for bicyclists would be unfair

[marmar]

Why an additional road tax for bicyclists would be unfair
by Elly Blue


"Should cyclists pay a road tax?"

That was printed on the side of one of Portland, Ore.'s MAX light rail trains as it sailed back and forth across the region for six months in 2009.

The question was designed to provoke, and it did. "We already do!" I would grumble every time I saw it.

It's true. And, fair being fair, we overpay.

Say you own a car. You're shelling out an average of $9,519 this year, according to the American Automobile Association (most other estimates are higher). Some of those costs -- a percentage of gas, registration, licensing, and tolls -- go directly to pay for roads. And it hurts. You doubtless feel every penny.

The thing is, that money only pays for freeways and highways. Or it mostly pays for them -- a hefty chunk of change for these incredibly expensive, high maintenance thoroughfares still comes from the general fund.

Local roads, where you most likely do the bulk of your daily bicycling, are a different story. The cost of building, maintaining, and managing traffic on these local roads adds up to about 6 cents per mile for each motor vehicle. The cost contributed to these roads by the drivers of these motor vehicles through direct user fees? 0.7 cents per mile. The rest comes out of the general tax fund. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-27-why-an-additional-road-tax-for-bicyclists-would-be-unfair/