I Wondered Why A "D" Would Sponsor That Bike Registration Bill

... with three Republicans. Loaded Orygun explains:

I honestly am not sure whether Rep. Schaufler just does this kind of thing to be a dick, but if I asked you for one Democrat in the House who might be expected to sign onto something like this, it's Schaufler or nobody. This is the guy who threatened Merkley with a nay vote on any Measure 37 bill that didn't get a GOP vote, no matter what the bill said.

Oh. He's a jerk.

Thanks for the expl, LO.

Three Republicans and a Democrat Want To Tax You Again To Ride Your Bike

In these days of fluctuating energy prices, global climate change, and decreasing incomes, the last thing the Oregon Legislature should be thinking about doing is making ecologically-friendly alternatives more expensive, but that's just what Reps Sal Esquivel (R-Medford), Wayne Krieger (R-Gold Beach), Bill Garrard (R-Klamath Falls) and Mike Schaufler (D-Happy Valley) want to do.

A liberal complaining about a new fee or tax may be odd, but really, only if you're a conservative who thinks using talking points instead of a brain. It's a matter of fairness.

The bill in question, HB 3008, sponsored by the four State Representatives, asks bicyclists–many of whom either own at least one car and is therefore already paying vehicle-registration fees, DEQ fees (if you live in the metros), gas taxes and insurance just to maintain the privilege of using an automobile to pay even more–$54 dollars every two years, to register a vehicle which delivers little or no wear on your neighborhood roads, makes you more fit, and pumps zero hydrocarbon emissions into the road.

Of course, I suppose there are many who use bicycles because they don't have or can't afford a car. Now it will cost them more. Many such people presumably ride a bike because they don't have that much of an income. Now they'd have to pony up $54 just to avoid getting a $25 ticket every time they get gigged for it (viewing the breeziness of the way the newsreaders on KATU simply dished off the cost as No Big Deal shows just how out-of-touch some people can get)

This can only lead to fewer people getting on two-wheelers to improve thier health, the health of the environment, and thier own economies. What we need to do is encourage people to get on bikes, not discourage.

As a person who owns two cars (and pays into the commonweal commensurate to that posessiveness) I am certainly not for being taxed again for doing the right thing. Bikes are not the problem, and making it more expensive to ride them will not solve any problems either.

If you feel as I do, you might want to contact these representatives and explain to them that this is not innovative, but rather a lack of vision:

Contact Rep Esquivel here.
Contact Rep Kreiger here.
Contact Rep Garrard here.
Contact Rep Schaufler here.
Go here to find out who your state representative is and tell them too.

And if you want a PDF with the complete text of HB 3008, click here for the download.

This is an official Bad Idea™. It needs to die.

Also, the BTA, who has the right of it, clues you in on Rep Krieger, the chief sponsor, who just seems to hate you if you ride a bike.

Who's Paying the $10 Corporate Minimum Tax? Good Question.

What's galling is that is not just so many corporations do it remorselessly but they then bellyache when they don't get the additional tax breaks they feel they so richly deserve (and get to whine about how unfriendly Oregon is to business).

From the Silverton-based Oregon Center For Public Policy:

More than 5,000 profitable corporations operating in Oregon paid no income taxes in 2006 beyond the $10 minimum, according to the Oregon
Center for Public Policy.

Among the 5,156 profitable corporations that paid just $10 were 31 with over $1 million in Oregon taxable income, OCPP found when reviewing recently released data from the Oregon Department of Revenue. The Silverton-based think tank’s analysis arrives on the eve of a review of the corporate minimum tax by the Oregon House Revenue Committee.

The state does not disclose the names of corporations paying just $10, prompting OCPP policy analyst Michael Leachman to wonder, “Which ones are playing us for fools?” The
new data, he said, underscore the need to require large corporations to disclose how much they pay in taxes.

Here's a good place for transparency to happen. Want to be a leech on the back of the working folks of the state of Oregon? Going on a publicly accessable list seems a fair trade.

But I hear you moaning about class warfare. Now, bunky, if you're the kind of braniac who worries about class warfare then you need to be advised that the class war is over and you're on the losing side. But, for you "business of America is business" types, think on this:

Leachman noted that 136 corporations paid 52 percent of all Oregon corporate income taxes in 2006. “If I were the CEO of one of those 136 corporations carrying half the load, I’d want to know which large, profitable corporations are getting away with paying just $10,” he added.

If I were one of those CEOs, I'd be furious.

More than 5,000 successfully profitable corporations in Oregon got away with paying a $10 income tax bill. The next time business whines against being taxed in Oregon, just remember what a free lunch they've come to see you as.

We're a few years into the most serious budgetary crisis this state has ever seen. Why do we still have this tax rule?