The Bicycle Coalition of Maine is opposing a proposal by a state representative to create a Bikeway Construction Fund because it imposes a 2% surcharge on retail bike sales that would hurt retailers' already thin margins.


“The 2% tax will cut into what is already a very small profit margin for bike sales,” the coalition writes on its website. “The average bike sold at a Maine independent bike shop is $400.  The mark up is between 28-32%.  That does not include freight costs. The shops can simply not afford to give another 2% to the state.”


The surcharge would be used by the Department of Transportation to construct, improve and maintain bikeways for use primarily by bicyclists and pedestrians, according to LD 1189 sponsored by Representative Ralph Sarty (Denmark).The surcharge would come on top of an existing 5% sales tax.


The coalition published a long list of objections to the bill  on its website, including:



  • The bill adds to the cost of buying a bike in Maine: The average bike bought in Maine costs about $400.  The existing 5% sales tax brings that cost up to $420.  Two percent more adds another $8.  The additional tax just makes it that much more difficult for some Mainers to buy a bike.
  • The 2% surcharge will hurt the small bike shops the most. The large and out-of-state companies, e.g., Walmart, that sell bikes in the largest volume, won’t feel the impact of this tax nearly as badly as the small, independent, owner-operated bike shops.
  • The 57 Maine bike shops are already competing with bikes sales on the Internet where there is no tax.  It’s especially difficult to run a bike shop in the southern part of the state because they have to compete with NH shops where there’s no sales tax. The extra 2% surtax will motivate more Mainers to buy their bicycles outside of Maine bike shops.
  • Administering an additional 2% tax on bikes will add time (and therefore expense) to the bookkeeping process, which is already very time-consuming and expensive for a small bike shop business.
  • The 2% surtax will result in a negligible amount of money for the proposed “Bike Construction Fund.” About 10,000 bikes are sold in Maine each year.  If the average price of a bike is $400, the total funds collected would be $80,000.  This would hardly cover the engineering and design costs of a typical bike/ped project, much less the construction.  Subtract the cost of administering this tax, and there’s even less.
  • As car and property owners, bicyclists already pay taxes to fund local, state and federal parks which include multi-use paths for cyclists, pedestrians, dog walkers, skateboarders, rollerskaters, wheel chairs users, baby strollers, and many other types of users.  This bill singles out bicyclists when it asks only them to pay for this type of infrastructure.
  • The bill threatens Maine's reputation as a bike-friendly state.