The Fight Against Walla Walla’s Bicycle Tax
While the Supreme Court has deemed special vehicle taxes unconstitutional, Walla Walla cyclists continue to pay up for the sake of path maintenance.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
According to Corporation Counsel Judson of Spokane, there is no legal obligation compelling anyone to pay for a bicycle license. He stated that the supreme court has decided in a case taken up from one of the west side cities that a bicycle tax is special legislation, and accordingly unconstitutional. It is held that a legislative body has no right to single out any particular kind of a vehicle and tax it specially. In Walla Walla, it has long been generally understood that the bicycle tax is unconstitutional, the supreme court having so decided in a case appealed from Hoquiam. However, wheelmen as a rule have paid the tax cheerfully with the understanding that all the money so collected would be used in the construction and repair of bicycle paths for their benefit. A few have refused to pay the tax and they have not been molested, as the city authorities are fully aware that in any case appealed to the supreme court the city would be sure to lose.
“The city authorities are fully aware that in any case appealed to the supreme court the city would be sure to lose.”
This reflects the early 20th-century 'Good Roads' movement, where cyclists were the primary advocates for infrastructure. It highlights the recurring friction between local revenue generation and state-level constitutional limitations.
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