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Rickk
Joined: 01 Jun 2004
Posts: 528
Location: Montreal12/21/13 7:39 PM |
Driving cars, tax breaks
U.S. sticks it to transit users while gifting drivers a tax cut
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/sticks+transit+users+while+gifting+drivers/9311505/story.html
Nonetheless,...
"One positive sign, albeit a faint one, is that more Americans are taking their bikes to work, according to census figures. About 865,000 reported regularly taking their bikes to work, a nine per cent jump from 2011,"
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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3236
Location: Midland, MI12/21/13 7:56 PM |
News?
This would be news if it wasn't such a "new day, same old sheit" situation.
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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC12/21/13 10:26 PM |
Makes perfect economic sense, if not environmental sense.
mmajority people drive to work. So the tax break bbenefits a lot of people, especially middle class workers.
pppeople who use transits? They're either too poor to own a car, or they live in congested area that makes driving impractical. Both group will continue to use public transportation, despite the disappearance of tax break.
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sandiway
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 4902
Location: back in Tucson12/22/13 7:39 PM |
quote:
For decades, commuters who take their cars have been able to write off a portion of their monthly parking expenses on their income tax forms.
Shit. I didn't know this!
And why didn't Turbotax ask me #Q@?
Sandiway
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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3236
Location: Midland, MI12/22/13 8:01 PM |
Making sense
quote:
Makes perfect economic sense
No, it doesn't. Private automobiles impose very large hidden costs (collateral damage) on society and are very heavily subsidized already. If the cost of operating a car were fully incorporated there would be a huge drop in use.
The old adage about "tax it and you will get less of it" also translates to "subsidize it and you will get more of it." Cities and the countries would be much better off with more transit use and less auto use. The numbers are pretty overwhelming.
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JohnC
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 1939
Location: Glastonbury, Ct12/22/13 8:41 PM |
quote:
for decades, commuters who take their cars have been able to write off a portion of their monthly parking expenses on their income tax forms.
Shit. I didn't know this!
And why didn't Turbotax ask me #Q@?
Sandiway
It's not an itemized deduction. It's only available if your employer offers it as a benefit program, under which you buy parking through the employer. You get to pay for it with pre-tax dollars.
The transit benefit works the same way.
It's a good deal for those who have it available, and another example of a program that benefits people who already have good jobs, but is closed to many of those who would need it most. But it does create an incentive
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Footay
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 25
12/22/13 9:00 PM |
Agree with KerryIrons. No doubt makes political sense. But it certainly doesn't make economic sense in a reasonably broad context. By April's logic, I guess the government should give everyone who doesn't use a wheelchair a huge tax credit. After all, the handicapped will still use their wheelchairs.
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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC12/22/13 11:14 PM |
what? you didn't realise it already exist? read JohnC's post above, on who gets the commuter parking credit!
BTW, I used to get that myself, when I work for a company that offers it. Even though I don't actually drive to work (I live within walking distance of the office), since I had to pay for parking near the office, it's the only qualification factor. The credit never assume one lives within walking distance of work! The credit helped to defray my normal parking cost.[/quote]
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PLee
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 3713
Location: Brooklyn, NY12/23/13 6:26 AM |
If you live someplace where mass transit is available, and your company participates in the program, you can direct pretax dollars to both a mass transit account and a parking account. And there's no way of confirming that you are using either for just commuting, so you can use pretax dollars to pay for personal travel and parking under this program. Plus, unlike health spending accounts, unused amounts roll over to following years.
It would be nice if you can use pretax dollars to pay for bikeshare program membership.
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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven12/24/13 7:42 AM |
correct about locale specific (mass transit) and its offered through your employer.
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