For the "wow, about time" files: the tax write-off for Hummers might be a thing of yesteryear, if one legislator gets his way.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) has introduced legislation to remove the $25,000-or-so tax break that people who drive massive SUVs and Hummers have been getting for years. The break was intended to help farmers, ranchers, and other people who might actually (possibly) have a concrete need for the beasts, but instead it's been helping planet-haters conspicuous consumers average business folks who just want to drive tanks around town.
See, there used to be a tax break for businesspeople who bought any sort of car. Then in 1984, Congress changed the law to eliminate the breaks on vehicles that weighed less than 6,000 pounds, so that rich people couldn't go using it for a sweet deal on a luxury car. But then Hummers and Escalades and other massive SUVs became the "in" thing, and buying one gave folks a $25k write off that made the gas-guzzlers seem like a sweet deal.
Blumenauer is a member of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and last week he slipped the legislation in an energy bill that the Ways and Means Committee submitted to the rest of the House this week.
"We shouldn't be giving a tax break to expensive vehicles that get eight miles to the gallon," Blumenauer told The Oregonian. "Environmentally, it's the right thing to do in terms of making the tax code work for us rather than against us."
This isn't the first time that legislation closing the loophole has gone before the House and been vigorously protested by the auto industry. But the hope is that as the monetary, social, environmental, and political costs of oil grow ever-more obvious, it'll make it through this time.
"When people stop to think about it and reflect on what sort of tax break this represents, we're finding that people generally agree that it needs to be fixed," said Blumenauer. "It was a mistake in the first place."
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Comments View as Flat
GreyFlcn Posted 1:08 pm
25 Jun 2007
Makes sense, since they are
Makes sense since they are covering up the other loopholes in the CAFE.
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GreyFlcn Posted 2:35 pm
25 Jun 2007
Lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8kKju7YEXo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzdN2yjABPE
Cartoon put out by the American Petroleum Institute.
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Ron Steenblik Posted 3:00 pm
25 Jun 2007
Yes, but ... but ... but
What about flex-fuel Hummers? GM's CEO last December said all future models of the Hummer would be able to use high ethanol blends, like E85. If people stop buying gas ... er, I mean, ethanol ... guzzlers like the Hummer, where's all that ethanol going to go?!! The ethanol industry's looking at a possible glut because of over-capacity. It NEEDS big FFVs like Hummers!
(Sarcasm alert)
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WWAGD?! Posted 3:06 pm
25 Jun 2007
Negative Energy Tax
Once upon a time, people thought we should have a negative income tax.
That is, we set some threshold, below which we understand that it's impossible to afford to live. We then give those people refunds to bring them up to the level needed to participate in civilization.
Then we tax everyone above that.
We can do the same with energy usage. Everyone basically gets a fixed set of BTUs for free. But above that the cost becomes astronomical.
John Bailo
You Read It Here First
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GreyFlcn Posted 3:09 pm
25 Jun 2007
Does the current bill
Does the current bill block the Flex fuel CAFE decrease?
Where they got to decrease their CAFE by 0.9mpg ?
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Whiskerfish Posted 4:55 pm
25 Jun 2007
uh-oh, Village Idiot Denier Guy...
...recycling an idea made prominent by George Monbiot?
Your people not paying you enough, Bailo?
Whiskerfish
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harry2008 Posted 2:17 pm
07 Sep 2008
Dropping the tax break on massive SUVs
The explosion of SUV pickup and minivan sales in America's passenger vehicle fleet has turned this small business benefit into a massive loophole in the tax law. Currently 38 different passenger SUVs including the Lincoln Navigator which nets a combined 15 miles per gallon according to the Environmental Protection.
=======================================Harry
car auctions
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Pangolin Posted 3:38 pm
07 Sep 2008
Tax Breaks?
$25K buys a Prius outright. That isnt a tax break but rather a payment to the shareholders of General Motors laundered through the tax system.
All for a vehicle that earns you the digitus impudicus from all and sundry. When you're not getting the itty-bitty pinch or laughed at at service stations. I like to go over and read thier totals; always a LOL event.
In a few years you won't be able to give those things away. Wrecking yards will force Hummer owners to pay a disposal fee.
Just try and find a used Prius that isn't overpriced.
Put the Carbon Back
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