The state is expected to wrap up budget deliberations this week. The Joint Finance Committee saved the toughest work for last, what to do with a transportation budget this is deep in the fiscal hole.
One provision has people who enjoy bicycling upset. The proposal charges buyers of new bicycles a one-time $25 dollar tax.
This 'bike tax" is outlined by Executive Director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin Dave Cieslewicz....
"...they say it will produce about $4.8 million dollars a year, and again, the projected hole in the transportation budget is $685 million dollars..."
Cieslewicz says what is curious is it appears no other group has been singled out this way for a new tax. He says in Wisconsin, bicycles account for $1.5 billion in economic activity, 14,000 jobs. He says the tax sends off a negative vibe to a growing Wisconsin business. He says the bike industry was not consulted on the tax. He says it's curious that the legislature spent a good deal of time cutting taxes for business, yet singled out the bicycle industry.
Joint Finance Committee co-chair John Nygren told the Green Bay Press Gazette the money would fund bike path construction. He said the tax could generate as much as $1.8 million in the budget's first year and $3.8 million in the second.
Nygren said it's just an idea and there's a less than 50 percent chance of passage.
