Close minded rednecks, please shut up

Ok
After hearing the 'argument' quite a few times in the past (sometimes accompanied by a shout, a middle finger, and/or an empty beer can - but I digress) that 'cyclists' somehow don't pay taxes, and therefore are not supposed to be using state roads, I decided to do some research. See, I had a nasty hunch that vehicle registration fees are only a small part of the Dept. of Transportation (DOT)'s overall budget.

So here goes... for LOTS more info please see this link.

Quick history: all registration fees, gas taxes, and tons of other stuff are collected and managed in the State Highway Users Tax Fund, so you'll see that mentioned below.

The entire budget for DOT for 2008 was ~$1.1 Billion.
Of that, the State Highway Users Tax Fund only accounted for 39.3% of that.

Now, the State Highway Users Tax Fund is broken down into many slices of pie. The biggest two are: (and this is proposed for 2009 i think)
- 68% Fuel Tax
- ~32% 'Other' (This includes registration fees and 'other')-couldnt find exact breakdown, so we'll use this entire figure just to be conservative.

So, taking this slice of the pie 32% of our original 39.3% of the entire budget now leaves us with 12.8% of the entire DOT budget.

Moving on, lets assume that 75% of bicycle owners also own a vehicle of some sort (trucks, cars, motorcycles, airplanes). *I cannot find this breakdown, so this is my guess, I would love to find info on this, but I don't think its tracked

So taking our assumed 25% of green cyclists (and therefore assuming that 75% are out of the picture because they own a vehicle and ARE paying registration / license fees), we'll take 25% of our 12.8% of the DOT budget and are left with:
These rogue cyclists, who don't choose to own a vehicle are only affecting ~3.2% of the entire budget.

But wait! we're not done. These people *could* contribute by way of Park Fees, Gaming Licenses, or Sales and Use tax.

So lets just for arguments sake say we're down to 2.5%-3% of the entire DOT yearly budget being affected by these malfeasants.
So we're really whittling down the actual people out on the roads who have NOT contributed to the DOT budget, and therefore are justified in using the state roads.
I guess I should NOT attempt to stir the pot and point out that many of our fine car/truck weilding co-inhabitants have allowed their registrations to lapse, or don't have all vehicles registrations up to date (howz that boat trailer doing back behind the garage?).

Where do we go from here. Well, I ask a few things of our closed minded redneck fellow Americans and residents of Colorado.

a) SHUT UP! The blather coming out of your mouths is spewing about an assumption thats incorrect approximately 97-98% of the time. (or you could say what you're saying is 97% just plain wrong)

b) Say what you really mean!!!! If you DO feel compelled to yell, drive really close to trying to scare, and love to generally assault cyclists, at least give us the courtesy of saying what really bothers you about us. Get it off your chest, let us know what you're really thinking. If you like how our clothes fit tight, and yours are to baggy (and you're worried about your buddies picking on you), say so. If seeing others excercise causes you to have low self esteem about your beer gut, please yell that. Perhaps its because our bikes are shiny and your truck needs a paint job, don't know.
Its only fair.

See you on the road ......