Jerald M Powell

Jonathan... Thanks for bringing up fiscal impact. If motorvehicle
licensing is an adequate model, it's unlikely that the revenue gained
from the proposed fee would more than cover the cost of administering
registration. Since there seem to be no particular benefits to be
gained, I'd then guess that this proposal will earn a early death.
That said, it does bring up an interesting question... like what's a
bike? and how do you define bike ownership? and what about "use" or
"riding". I myself would happily fire anyone representing me who
wanted to open this can of worms. An who is the yahoo from Happy
valley? I can understand the cranky old trooper from Gold Beach...
even the reactionary from Medford (in spite of its being a community
that benefits from a healthy local bike industry)... but "Happy"
Valley? What's that about? Doesn't anyone there vote?

Jerry

On Mar 8, 2009, at 6:53 PM, Jonathan Maus wrote:

> howdy,
>
> If anyone is interested in more details/analysis/discussion of this
> proposed bill, check out BikePortland.
>
> we broke the news on Friday and then I published a f/u story based
> on a conversation I had with Rep. Wayne Krieger. There have been
> over 250 comments on the two stories combined... and stories in The
> Oregonian, on KATU, and on KGW so far.
>
> here's my initial story - http://tinyurl.com/dhtevq
>
> and here's the conversation with Krieger - http://tinyurl.com/bcjdqh
>
> oh, and if you're wondering.. I think it's highly unlikely to
> actually pass... for a lot of reasons you can read in the comments
> on bikeportland.
>
> cheers.
>
> --Jonathan
> _____________________
> Jonathan Maus
> Publisher/Editor-in-chief
> BikePortland.org
>
> http://www.BikePortland.org
> News Tipline/Cell: (503) 706-8804
> jonathan@bikeportland.org
> http://twitter.com/bikeportland
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 8, 2009, at 6:40 PM, Melissa Boyd wrote:
>
>> I personally believe we should tax luxuries and behaviors we want
>> to discourage, and offer tax breaks to encourage behavior that
>> benefits our society.
>>
>> Those of us with thousand-dollar bikes can afford to pay a "luxury"
>> tax for the privelage of riding. However, I really believe we are
>> in the minority. Most bikes are owned by kids, students who ride
>> them to school, responsible adults who are saving gas or exercising
>> for their health, and low-income people who can't afford cars. A
>> tax of this sort is going to hurt the people who need help the most.
>>
>> Please take this opportunity to write to your state legislators,
>> and let them know how you feel about it. Talking to each other at
>> OBRA is interesting, but not terribly productive.
>>
>> Here is a link to find the email addresses of your Oregon
>> legislators: http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/
>> Here's a list of all the Oregon representatives:
>> http://www.leg.state.or.us/servlet/XSLT?URL=members.xml&xslURL=members.xsl&member-type=representative
>>
>> - Melissa
>>
>>
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