Comments on: Stupid hybrid tax incentive quotas

If you buy a hybrid vehicle, don't assume you'll get a tax credit. The federal government has a quota system based on manufacturers and brands of cars.

[raywkirk]

Actually, it WAS a tax credit and not a deduction. While it lasted. I know because I got it.

[Vailhem]

Theres a flipside to this:
In 2003, Bush passed the 179 Tax provision giving a 100% tax write off for 6000lb+ vehicles (ie hummers, f150s, expeditions, etc). This went up to $100,000. That means, if you made the money, you could get a 100% tax write off for a $60,000 Hummer, as long as you 'used it for business.'
If you were in the highest tax bracket, ie, if you made enough money to afford a Hummer, you were taxed slightly less than 40%. You get a 100% write off, meaning, you don't have to pay that 40% in taxes.
On a $60,000 Hummer (or a $100,000 Cayenne, also a 6,000lb+ vehicle)
you would have been able to write off $24,000 of the cost of the Hummer.

That same year, he approved another bill that removed write offs for fuel efficent cars, read: hybrids, only to have to be fought to put in years later.

Now, $2,500 for a hybrid vs up to $40,000 for a H2/Cayenne/Touareg/Excursion/F150/F250/etc.... thats oil politics working in your favor = )

[Vailhem]

Oh, and think those batteries in the hybrids are fighting foreign oil?

who do you think owns the patents on the battery technology used in the batteries that are in the hybrids? All current battery technology for these cars is essentially going to PRE-pay for 'fuel' therefore, making them wait even less time to get your fuel-money, allowing them to invest that much sooner in foreign oil for everyone else that doesn't own a hybrid.

hybrids are just as bad, if not worse. Air compressed cars is the only way to go.

[4951ha]

you really want a bike dont you! :)

[Vailhem]

probably need one, would help with the weight my car lugs around town = )

problem with a bike is its not energy efficent, the amount of energy it takes to feed me to power myself to pedal, and everyone else, would probably consume more food than our fat lazy culture consumes now from taco bell to ethanol.

what I'm talking about is energy storage efficiency, and whom owns that energy storage infrastructure. Be it big oil/coal/n.gas or big agriculture.

All we're essentially doing in swapping oil from the middle east and russia, is natural gas and nuclear from russia and africa to power our transportation system.

And, even if we flipped to solar, wind, etc, who owns the patents on the companies who manufacture those products. Shy of a community building their own windmill to power their electricity needs, or some open-source windmill design... a linux for energy production if you will.... someone is going to own the patents on the technology.

So, instead of flopping from mining oil in unstable countries, and selling that product to us unpredictibly, they sell us the parts predictibly to do it ourselves.
Insecure energy usage... ie, buy a car, you can still ride a bike, buy a hybrid, and, whether or not you use the batteries, you're paying for them, and they'll still fail after 5 years, drive it or not.

same people, different industry.

hell, even switch to bikes... who do you think would make all of the bikes sold at walmart and sears? same people. Theres no escaping it. Its an illusion.

sonoluminescent power and Bussard's Polywell fusion reactors are the only way to go. That, or build it yourself solar-stirling engines.

[ArtInvent]

Gerrg, you're wrong. The federal incentive was a tax credit, not a deduction. I.e. it reduces your tax by that much, not your taxable income. (Most tax breaks are deductions.) We got something like $3100 back on our Prius in 2006. It was probably the only happiness I've ever experienced as a taxpayer. Don't know if it was really necessary, but probably a lot of people look one car over another for less than a 3 grand savings.

[kennethlawson]

You folks seem to missing the point,, There are a lot of good hard working people who believe in doing their part, however they can't do all they'd like to do both to save money, and help the eccomany because they just can't afford a new hybrid car and other enegery saving and producing technologies, Any government subsidize that help get windmills , solar even hybrid cars, it will help the country in the long run, If they have to help folks get technologys to make their life easier and help save our countries resources, ie energy trees, air, ect in the long run, so a few government subsidizes in the grand scheme of things isn't that important, Saving our natural resources is for more important.

[kkohnen]

Folks, the tax breaks and the HOV stickers don't markedly change the price. I bought my Prius in April 2007, just after California stopped giving out HOV stickers. It was clear to me that the inability to get the HOV sticker meant that I got the Prius for about $4,000 less than I would have just 2 months prior.

Trust me on this one - the dealers are keenly aware of the tax rebates and any other incentives. The incentives drive up demand, and the dealers will, consequently, increase the price accordingly.

The thing that makes the most sense is to wait until you would normally be replacing your car and then get the most efficient car (hybrid or otherwise) you can afford.

[whatdidyaexpect]

Stupid? Seems you're the one in that boat since you bought a lower mpg Escapre before the credits ran out on the much higher mpg Prius. Those people who got the full $3100 tax credit on the Prius seem to be pretty smart since they figured out gas was only going to go up and they could buy a $23,000 car for $20,000 3 years ago. And for the record, I am not one of those people, I don't own a Prius or a hybrid. A own a diesel and I don't need you or anyone else telling me I can only go 55mph on the Interstate because YOUR VEHICLE can't get good gas milege at 70mph. Mine can - I average 50mpg in a VW Jetta that I've had for 3 years. Even with the $.80/gal premium for diesel over the past 6months I am still way ahead - even if I had decided to buy a Prius 3 years ago when I COULD GET THE $3100 tax credit. So tell me again who's stupid, Jon? Oh yeah, and to gerrg: do you homework, the credits are JUST THAT, they are CREDITS not deductions. The initial incentives for hybrids were deductions, but then they changed them.

[Paul Grantham]

No one has yet mentioned that the IRS lets your write off a Hummer or large pickup purchase completely, if you claim it as a business vehicle. Yes we subsidize waste because the people who waste have the power. If we really believed in "letting the market decide" we would simply tax carbon use.

[Vailhem]

I did, scroll up. = )

[BarbieLee]

Jon,
I read your article on hybrid cars. Last week I drove sixteen hundred miles. My diesel pu normally manages 19 mpg on the highway. Under the hood I had a "Browns Gas Generator". My millage was 30.1 mpg. I will do better after building a new generator this week.

I strongly suggest you Google "Stanley Meyers" and or "Browns Gas Generator"

And kiss off that hybrid car. I plan on getting better than 50 mpg with my diesel pu, Lincoln Towncar, and Ford van.

We built our Browns Gas Generator for less than twenty dollars.
always,
Barb

[nanobrain3000]

To save gas, you must increase the speed limit instead of decreasing it. It is true that car loses gas milages going faster than 55 or 65, depend on what car. Decreasing speed limit will result in traffic problems, stop and go in 5mph traffic will burn twice as much!!!!

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[benjaminstraight]

Hybrids rock. But they are so expensive now because of their demand due to gas.