Weird News

Washington Lawmaker Claims Bicycling is Bad for the Environment and Should be Taxed
Download PDF
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Washington is imposing a new bike tax. That is annoying enough, but the explanation offered by representative Ed Orcutt (R-Kalama) hasn’t justified the tax to anybody’s satisfaction, least of all to Seattle Bike Blog, who reported on it. When Dale Carlson, owner of BikeTech in Tacoma, queried him through email about the new tax, Orcutt denied that bicycling is good for the environment. After all, cyclists have “an increased heart rate and respiration. That means that the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider. Since CO2 is deemed to be a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, bicyclists are actually polluting when they ride.”

The comment, clearly inane, led him to apologize later. “My point was that by not driving a car, a cyclist was not necessarily having a zero-carbon footprint,” he said in an email, as reported by Reuters. “In looking back, it was not a point worthy of even mentioning so, again, I apologize.”

What about the rest of his email he sent to Carlson? In regard to these sales tax, which will add 5 percent to local sales taxes for bikes costing over $500 — in Seattle, for instance, tax would be 14.5 percent — Orcutt claims that cyclists don’t pay any road taxes insofar as they are biking, since they don’t use gasoline. The new tax is anticipating taking in $1 million over a ten year period, which Orcutt characterizes as a great deal for cyclists, as the bike lanes the state is putting cost more than $1 million.

  
What
Where


“When you are riding your bicycle, tell me what taxes are being generated by the act of riding your bicycle. Sales tax does not go into roads.” That bicyclists might also drive cars and pay other manner of taxes doesn’t count. Instead, cyclists should be grateful. “You’re asking for a whole lot more back than what you’re going to put in,” he said.



 

RELEVANT JOBS

Associate Attorney

USA-PA-Exton

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY McKenna Snyder LLC, a law firm in Exton, PA has an immediate opening for an ex...

Apply now

Attorney

USA-MI-Sturgis

Qualifications: HaasCaywood is seeking associate attorneys for our Coldwater and Sturgis, Michiga...

Apply now

Attorney

USA-MI-Coldwater

Qualifications: HaasCaywood is seeking associate attorneys for our Coldwater and Sturgis, Michiga...

Apply now

Insurance Defense Trial Attorney/ Senior Counsel

USA-CA-San Francisco

Job description Trial Attorney - Personal Injury Defense Full Job Description Hickey Smith ...

Apply now

BCG FEATURED JOB

Locations:

Keyword:



Search Now

Education Law Attorney

USA-CA-El Segundo

El Segundo office of a BCG Attorney Search Top Ranked Law Firm seeks an education law attorney with ...

Apply Now

Education Law Attorney

USA-CA-Carlsbad

Carlsbad office of a BCG Attorney Search Top Ranked Law Firm seeks an education law attorney with 4-...

Apply Now

Education Law and Public Entity Attorney

USA-CA-El Segundo

El Segundo office of a BCG Attorney Search Top Ranked Law Firm seeks an education law and public ent...

Apply Now

Most Popular

SEARCH IN ARCHIVE

To Top