http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2003/2003-01-21-09.asp
Tax Credits Could Boost SUV Sales WASHINGTON, DC, January 21, 2003 (ENS) - A tax credit proposed by the Bush administration would allow small business owners to purchase large sport utility vehicles (SUVs) almost for free. One of the tax cuts included in a package proposed by President George W. Bush would increase from $25,000 to $75,000 the amount that business owners, including wealthy self employed doctors and lawyers, could claim as a tax write off if they buy a large SUV for their business use. The so called SUV loophole, first reported yesterday by "The Detroit News," is part of a tax proposal that the administration says would help stimulate the economy by allowing a higher deduction for business equipment. The deduction was $17,500 in 1996, but was raised to $25,000 in 2003 under the Bush tax plan. "This is a plan that says that if you are willing to take risk and invest more, that there's a benefit for doing so," Bush said when he announced his new tax initiative on January 9. "It will have a positive effect throughout our entire economy." But environmental groups say the proposal could have a negative effect on the environment, encouraging small business owners to buy the largest SUVs available, rather than more fuel efficient, less polluting vehicles. The Internal Revenue Service defines any vehicle with a gross weight of 6,000 pounds or more as a truck, including large SUVs, and business owners can write off such trucks as necessary equipment. But they cannot write off as equipment vehicles that do not meet that weight requirement. A business can claim a deduction for the depreciation in value that a car experiences as soon as it is driven off the lot, but the maximum deduction is just $7,660 - far less than the proposed cap on business "equipment." Even the tax credits offered for alternative fueled cars, which qualify for a $2,000 clean vehicle deduction, do not bring the incentives for buying cars up to the level of the proposed incentives for buying large SUVs. "Leave it to the Bush administration to try to make an even more outrageous a taxpayer rip-off that benefits the rich," Daniel Becker, director of the global warming and energy program at the Sierra Club, told the "Detroit News." "I'm sure there will be a fight over this." Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
