Automobile Mondays
In his letter to the Seattle Times editor titled “Automobile Mondays“, Dean Trier of Redmond asserts that I “don’t pay a penny for the right to pedal over roads”. That’s strange… I remember sending in my property taxes, did the county not receive them? Sales tax? Yup, I’ve got loads of receipts. Registration fees? I own two cars so I pay those too.
Oddly enough, Mr Trier omits mentioning the one tax he likely pays more of than I do: Gas taxes. Ok, you’ve got me there, except for one small problem: The vast majority of funds for the local roads and trails that we cyclists use come from property and sales taxes, not gas taxes. Check any budget for any municipality or county and you will see this is true.
So, Mr Trier, I think I’ve paid plenty of pennies for my right to pedal over the road. How about cutting me some slack? After all, if I pedal somewhere, I won’t be taking up a parking spot. I’ll leave that open for you.
