http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060219/...s_tax_breaks_3

 

When this story came out four years ago it was funny. For obvious reasons - it's not a laughing matter.

When introduced to Slim Fast, he liked it so much that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon finished off the entire six-pack.

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The CAFE and business breaks on jumbo SUV's essentially say it's OK to be gaudy and pretend there is no problem with our oil supply. A few will preach to me it's their right to spend their hard-earned money - why the tax break? Why make it so easy for them to adversely impact road safety, ozone action days, and the economy? Yeah - I should stop being judgemental and just shut up and quietly get screwed.

I have no problem with tax breaks on business vehicles - until the original intent of the break is abused.

 

I'm glad Canada doesn't have policies like these. Even the rich took advantage of the break too. What a joke!

 

My biggest issue with this law when it was issued is that many of the vehicles that qualify aren't even useful for a small business. My understanding is that the law was orginally intended for farmers, contractors and others who needed heavy vehicles inorder to fulfill a job function.

While I have no issue with someone purchasing a Hummer or Excursion. I do have issues with them using a loop hole that includes these vehicles as tax deductions. Not much room in a Hummer for hauling stuff, and unless your business is Military related, I can't imagine you would need the off-road capabilities. The law is clearly being misused in my mind.

 

This is just one of the problems with this stupid country. $^#& the flag and $*%& the president and %($* the government. I cannot support a country or an administration that is so irresponsible. End capitalism. What they should do is have a 15,000$ gas-guzzler tax on every suv and use that money directly to subsidize hybrids and pure electrics. That way people who want a new hybrid and cannot afford one will be able to get one.

 

vortex57, I absolutely agree our current energy policy is a bad joke. May I suggest that it's devoid of capitalism or the market economy. If it were, the biggest users would pay more like a typical business situation. Heavy vehicles wear out the roads and bridges more, cause more ozone action days, etc, yet counterintutively get the biggest breaks.

 

Bush and Cheney are both in the back pocket of Big Oil. Bush is also a religious nut who Probably believes caring about the environment is somehow un- Christian. Dick Cheney probably bleeds 10-w-30 when he cuts himself shaving. Between these two, what could anyone possibly expect with respect to a coherent energy policy?

 

Oh my, how political the conversation has turned.

When have we had a coherent energy policy? We've only had lessons (not learned) since the Oil Embargo days in the early 1970's to figure this out. I don't think either political party, nor any past or present President can be blameless here.

 

It is strange that the politician they talk about as being most bothered by this contradictory and inconsistent tax credit situation is Senator Grassley (a Republican). Normally I disagree with Grassley on just about everything, but as chairman of an important committee, he has a fair amount of clout, particularly over our tax policy. Instead of blaming Republicans (and yes, there's plenty of blame to go around) we should all write supportive letters to Grassley to see if we can get him to kick this into gear and get the Republicans, who are in power after all, behind an effort to change this law.

Anyone here live in Iowa? Letters from constituents count a lot more than letters from people with out of state addresses. The form is here:

http://grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm

and even if you hate Republicans and think they're destroying the environment and the economy, try to take a positive tone in the message, saying something like "I'm writing to support your plan to pass legislation addressing the tax credit inconsistency that allows small businesses to get much larger tax benefits for buying SUVs than for hybrid cars, which is an irresponsible, unbalanced incentive that needs to be reversed. Thank you for your leadership on this issue, and I hope that you are able to get the support you need to pass a law that will help protect our environment and take a step in the right direction on energy policy." Add your own details- copying and pasting is not the best idea, because Congressional staffers tend to disregard repetitive messages more easily.

If you think it's not worth your time to write, you're wrong- for every letter a Congressman receives, they count it as representing the views of a hundred people, or so I have heard from former Congressional interns.

If you don't want to write Grassley, write your own congressman (e-mail addresses or web forms are easy to find if you google Congress or the person's name) and mention the Grassley proposal as forthcoming legislation that you want them to support on your behalf.

It's fine to criticize politicians and gripe about the ridiculous laws we have, but while you're at it, why not try to work within the system to get something constructive done about it, since we already know about a Congressman (and a powerful one at that) interested in sponsoring legislation that will hopefully fix the problem?

 

That one of the best pieces of advise given here!