OUR OPINION: Don’t put brakes on bike trail construction
April 22, 2012 at 6:15 pm in Grand Forks Herald
If valley residents like the recreation and convenience that bike trails offer, now is the time to speak up. That’s because the funding source that has built most of the modern bike trails in America is at risk. Continue Reading
“Transferring funds reserved for bikeways and walkways to highways is not an April Fools’ Day leftover, but a move under consideration by Congress,”
NO. THAT STATEMENT IS MISLEADING. The money “reserved” for the bikeways was NEVER SUPPOSED to pay for bikeways. The intent from the beginning was that the tax from the motor vehicle fuels would be used to support motor-vehicle projects. Diverting that money to bike paths was the crime, not returning it to it’s rightful use.
The money currently used for bike paths and other non-motorized-vehicle infrastructure has been STOLEN from the people who paid the tax and then expected that the motor vehicle-based tax would pay for something useful.
There is NO justification for taxing motor vehicle fuel and then diverting the revenue to non-motor-vehicle projects. It’s wrong, it’s unethical, it’s a shame.
You want to support bike paths? FIND OTHER FUNDING, but do not use motor vehicle-based taxation for non-motor-vehicle projects.
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