Way to go, Washington...

There is difference between taxing bicycles and taxing hybrids/electric cars.  Roads are maintained through gas tax dollars and cars, regardless of fuel usage, exact wear and tear on the roads.  One of the noticeable problems with more fuel efficient cars is the lack of gas tax revenue.  There are some major studies towards shifting from gas tax to usage tax based upon miles driven.

Bicycle taxes are simply a money grab by the government. 

In Illinois they're trying to tax running shoes..  To help fund high school dropouts..  No kidding!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-shoe-tax-20130206,0,7935508.story

Fortunately it's part of a broader revenue plan that will never pass in a million years.  One of the things they (democrats) want to do is reinstate value-based car tabs after we voters got rid of that through an initiative.  Good luck.

And on top of that, they need a 2/3 vote in the state congress to pass any new taxes.

Not in a million years.  Go read some of the many anti-bike comments on the Seattle Times -- saying bikes should pay even more.  Some of the suggestions were +10% sales tax on top of the standard one, yearly license fees, required plates, yada yada.  Bike haters will continue to hate regardless.

Just a flat tax of $25 bucks?

I'm guess it wont' have THAT much of an impact, IMO.  It's not going to be a deal breaker on a 5k bike - even a 1k bike.

(don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating this) - I just don't see a flat tax adjusting prices or setting glass ceilings.

Now if it was a percentage?  $25 bucks is 5% of $500.  If you extrapolated and had to pay $250 on a 5k bike?  That could cause more heartburn.

We have to register them here in Hawaii. A $15 one time fee and an ugly yellow sticker for the bike, which I happened to forget to put on my new Shiv.... They say the money goes towards making more bike projects, I'd be happy if they actually made some bike lanes connect - too many just start and stop with no reason.

http://www1.honolulu.gov/dts/bikereg.htm

Luckily we have initiatives.

x2 That is huge. As a former Washington resident Initiatives and the 2/3 vote are big reasons why i wish I could have stayed there. Politicians can come up with any silly tax they want, but unless it can hold up to a vote by the tax payers, it's a moot point.

I saw this on the news the other day and just had to shake my head at it. Completely ridiculous to my mind. Most bike riders also own cars (not all mind you but most) and pay for our roads via gas tax with them as well as tabs and all those other fees. Not to mention that most city and county roads are funded by property tax in this state and not by gas taxes, it makes it even sillier. However your average person never even understands or considers this. Most people in this state that I have talked with have no clue where all this money the send to the local, county, and state governments ends up or how it is used. They also have little desire to learn where it goes unless it is not going to something they care about.

I am happy we have initiatives here and that we push for a lot of things in this state but we do have a serious spending problem and it could use some adjustments at the state government level.

If you want to tax my shoes, fine, but then give the money to the schools, and not to the dropouts.