Rachel Kurzius
Photo by Ronnie R.
On Earth Day in 2017 and beyond, you could venture into a D.C. store and buy a new bike without shelling out the additional 5.75 percent sales tax.
If legislation introduced this week by At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds passes, April 22 will become a tax holiday for all bikes and bike-related products like helmets, tires, and locks.
“We wanted to start off with something not-so-big,” says Bonds’ Chief of Staff David Meadows. “We don’t expect (the fiscal impact) to be that much, and then maybe, like the Affordable Care Act, we can build on it.”
The bill—called the Earth Day Bicycling Tax Holiday Act of 2016—was co-introduced by Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, and At-large Councilmember David Grosso, and co-sponsored by At-large Councilmember Vincent Orange.
It isn’t a legislative priority for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, but they’re all for the measure. “Nobody’s quite sure where it came from,” says Colin Browne, WABA spokesperson. “But it would support local shops and that’s great. It’s probably not lifting barriers, but having a single day might be an excuse for people to go shopping. What something like this does is create a kind of event.”
Last year, D.C. was named the seventh-most bikeable city in the country by Redfin, though those stats are based on the ease of riding, rather than purchasing, one’s bike.
