Oregon Could Expand its Bike Tax

Jonathan Maus reports on the details of House Bill 4059, which would make substantive adjustments to the transportation bill approved by the state in 2017. Maus's main concern is the possibility that the state's new bike tax could be expanded to even more bikes.

"In a nutshell," writes Maus, "the tax will apply to more bicycles than before," if it's approved. "As currently written, “taxable bicycle” is defined as a bicycle with a wheel diameter of 26-inches or larger (so as not to tax children’s bikes) and a retail price of $200 or more. DOR’s proposal would drop the wheel-size stipulation from the definition and the tax would then apply to all bikes over $200," explains Maus. The bill would also expand the definition of bikes to cover e-bikes as well.

The bike tax was already unpopular with bike advocates and the bike industry, and neither are these changes. Maus details the pushback in the source article.