This week there were letters to the editor in Willamette Week and the Oregonian that argue cyclists should have to pay a fee to register their bikes. What they fail to consider is that most of us who use a bicycle to get around also have cars. I bike to work nearly every day, but I own a car and pay my registration fees and gas taxes. And 200 pounds of person and bike create far fewer potholes than 2000 pounds of steel and rubber.
The worst part of a cyclist tax is how it would affect people who aren't able to have cars, ironically like one of the writers who biked for years before he could "afford" to drive. Cyclists have a responsibility to ride safely and obey traffic laws, but asking those of us who ride to pay more taxes either punishes the poor or punishes people for making a choice that benefits us all.
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