New Assembly Measure to Tax Bikes, Tubes
A new bill, introduced today by Assemblymember Gertrude Atherton, will provide for a tax of 10% over and above sales tax on all bicycle-type vehicle sales. A tax of a flat $10 per item is also imposed on the sale of all bicycle tubes and tires. Revenue from the taxes will go toward the state's highway fund
"It's well known that cyclists don't pay their way," said newly elected Assemblymember Gertrude Atherton of Orange County. "They pay no gas taxes, no license fees, they free-load on the highways. This sets that to rights. My constituency is sick and tired of smug cyclists just riding every which way, running through stop signs, making cars slow down on curvy mountain roads, as if they had the same right to be there as the American family car! They should pay for the privilege of riding on our highways and this is how we'll do it. And besides they wear those indecent tight clothes that I wouldn't be caught dead in! We'll see about those later!"
The bill, AB 463B, is given little chance of making it out of hearings although it has received much support from talk radio hosts.
