State lawmaker defends bike tax, says bicycling is not good for the environment

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
What?! This actually made me laugh. A bike tax?

You should see what they are planning to do with people who smoke while riding a bike.

I can see it for what it really is and that is plain and simple a tax on cyclists to make up for the tax on gas that is not able to be collected from the non-fossil fuel burning bicycle.

That's it, I'm running for office!

If this "genius" can win, then I'm a shoe in!

He is an idiot

I ride my bike to work about half of the time. It's little over 7 miles one way. I don't get out of breath when I do my commute because my body is used to it.

I would like to make the suggestion that Mr. Orcutt and all of his supporters be provided only with carbon dioxide to breathe from now on. They must be persuaded to do their part in permanently reducing all the collateral aerobic damage to the atmosphere.

Originally posted by NthOther
Bicycling is bad for the environment, but not for the reasons this politician is talking about. Where do you think all that bicycling stuff comes from? People were coerced into holes dug into the earth to extract the resources from which the bikes are built. The rubber tires, plastic components, and paint wouldn't exist without oil. The thing won't even work without lubrication. The parts couldn't be manufactured, assembled, and distributed without extensive and complicated (not to mention economically compulsory) production and transportation systems that consume even more resources and damage the land base.

Then you have the helmets, the shoes, the gloves, the obligatory $150 sunglasses, and the outrageous spandex shirt that hopefully makes people think you're sponsored. Where does it all come from? Is that good for the environment? Is it good for us?

Not sure if you're being facetious or not, but Ivan Illich once wrote a wonderful treatise on the fact that you can never really go faster than a bicycle. Once you factor in cost of various modes of transportation and the average amount of wage/hours needed to pay for them, a bicycle is faster than even the Concorde or the Space Shuttle.

Properly maintained, a bike can last many decades. I still have one that's a British Raleigh (with a wonderful leather seat, I love that thing) that was manufactured during WWII or thereabouts. Except for a few new tires now and then, it's gorgeous. The rest of your complaints are silly but you knew that, right?

Originally posted by TLomon
For those that are interested, an actual study based on actual facts is available at ECF. They actually take into account the entire life cycle of CO2 (such as delivering food for a person to eat, etc.). A summary of the findings can be found here.

i bet that they also can find that if a person is dead their CO2 usage stops all together. This guy is an idiot.

reply to post by TLomon


Thanks for this haha I wonder if he's completed his analysis yet

I cannot believe one can be that stupid. Either he is a liar or a moron!
He defends his moronic bike-tax, with a braindead argument, and yet on his website it reads

I have spent time talking with residents of the 20th District about the needs of their communities, and what they told me is my agenda: more jobs, not more taxes.

screenshot


How on earth does these people get elected?

this really is just like us isn't it? are our elected officials even connected to "humanity" any more at this point? who in the F feeds these talking heads their information anyway? and why do we allow this sort of thing to continue? when will the comedy turn to anger? bagh!!

this has to be from the onion...has to......

I hope....

reply to post by TLomon


My lord! This little gem of a statement, uttered by Representative Ed Orcutt, speaks to the reality of the situation and to the goals most politicians have:

“When you are riding your bicycle, tell me what taxes are being generated by the act of riding your bicycle,” he said. “Sales tax does not go into roads.” -Ed Orcutt

Can he get any more blatant? It seems he thinks his job description is to collect taxes on as many things as he possibly can. Pathetic. I can only assume that he means cyclists should be paying a tax to use roads. This country has fallen low. So very low.

I don't think he is even concerned with CO2 emissions and other related nonsense. He merely wants cyclists to pay for the privilege of using "his"(I bet that is how he sees it) roads. What a flunkie.

Originally posted by TLomon


I am too busy laughing at this while I posted it. This person is an elected official? How can someone this stupid get into office? Still laughing here.

Who did you vote for in your State election lately?

I want to get a name so I can browse to see stupid things they've said.

PM me if you want, but I will make it public.

First they had to quit smoking, then no PED's, and now breathing is an issue!

reply to post by olaru12


I see your agenda clearly.

Why can't you see that both sides are just as idiotic and there is no difference from side to side.

People who keep spouting GOP this and Liberal that are morons who will never get it.

Obama is no different than Bush was. They both pull the same crap and screw the people over but somehow you and everybody else thinks "their guy" is far superior for some reason.

The stupidity of people make me want to puke.

THAT'S how people like this idiot get voted in because somebody voted for him because he had either an "R" or a "D" next to his name regardless of whether he was a flaming idiot or not!

reply to post by mwood


Agreed partisan politics are the worst divisive system i have
ever seen, our forefathers knew this would happen, that was
their fear, it would be used to divide the nation and real true
problems would be ignored to argue which party is guilty,
which will save us and so on.

A bike tax is the worst idea, it just goes to show they will get
their tax money one way or the other, no matter what, even
if you stop consuming you will not be allowed to stop paying
the tax for consuming......

are you guys sure this guy isnt doing this just to make a point?

to make fun of all the environmentalists talking about cow farts causing global warming?

i think bikers should be taxed up the rear. to drive a car, you pay a ton of gas tax. you pay a bunch of fees for licences and everyhing

yet the bikers dont have to pay any of that, but still clog up the roads/

in this area bikers are terrible. they blow through stops signs. they blow through red lights. they cause traffic accidents. they hit pedestrians. they have a holier than thou attitude. we also can no longer turn right on a red light at many intersections, because the stupid city has installed a huge area for bikers to rest their poor wittle wegs at a light. they are constantly hitting parked cars on the side of the road and scratching them up

bikers are like a plague in the pacific north west

Originally posted by signalfire
Not sure if you're being facetious or not, but Ivan Illich once wrote a wonderful treatise on the fact that you can never really go faster than a bicycle. Once you factor in cost of various modes of transportation and the average amount of wage/hours needed to pay for them, a bicycle is faster than even the Concorde or the Space Shuttle.

Properly maintained, a bike can last many decades. I still have one that's a British Raleigh (with a wonderful leather seat, I love that thing) that was manufactured during WWII or thereabouts. Except for a few new tires now and then, it's gorgeous. The rest of your complaints are silly but you knew that, right?

I wasn't being facetious at all, nor are any of the facts I stated "silly". The bicycle is a form of technology only possible through the use of conscripted labor and the extraction of non-renewable resources from the ecosystem. As such, they are bad for both human society and the environment (as if there's a difference).

Now that doesn't mean we should go around taxing bicycles or cyclists (or anything, for that matter). My only point is that, when you dig deep enough (no pun intended), almost all forms of technology are ecologically unsustainable and inherently oppressive, given where the materials come from and how they are produced.

Most people reflexively scoff at the idea that bicycling could be bad for environment, when this is in fact the case. Bikes aren't as bad as automobiles, true, but let's not step into the "lesser of two evils" trap that we here on ATS so frequently point out and ridicule.

Anyway, your reference to Illich (much appreciated) made me think of something from Thoreau's Walden:

"One says to me, 'I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love to travel; you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg today and see the country.' But I am wiser than that. I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. I say to my friend, Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty miles; the fare ninety cents. That is almost a day's wages. Well, I start now on foot, and get there before night. You will in the meanwhile have earned your fare, and arrive there sometime tomorrow, or possibly this evening if you are lucky enough to get a job in season. Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working here the greater part of the day. And so, if the railroad reached round the world, I think that I should keep ahead of you; and as for seeing the country and getting experience of that kind, I should have to cut your acquaintance altogether."

Originally posted by James1982
in this area bikers are terrible. they blow through stops signs. they blow through red lights. they cause traffic accidents. they hit pedestrians. they have a holier than thou attitude. we also can no longer turn right on a red light at many intersections, because the stupid city has installed a huge area for bikers to rest their poor wittle wegs at a light. they are constantly hitting parked cars on the side of the road and scratching them up

bikers are like a plague in the pacific north west

Adults On Bicycles: polluting the atmosphere with SMUG.

Good lord, even third graders know the difference between CO and CO2........