[GreenYes] SUV's and Bush Administration

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

My son is only 5, but I cannot but imagine that some on this list have sons
who are cannon-fodder age. Isn't it wonderful why we are sending them off to
die to protect the god given right for American's to drive Sherman tanks on
the highway that get 5 miles a gallon.  It makes me so proud to be an
American. It just sends chills up and down my spine.



NEW YORK TIMES -- 1/21/03
Bush Proposal May Cut Tax on S.U.V.'s for Business
By DANNY HAKIM


DETROIT, Jan. 20 - The Bush administration's economic plan would increase by
50 percent or more the deductions that small-business owners can take right
away on the biggest sport utility vehicles and pickups.
The plan would mean small businesses could immediately deduct the entire
price of S.U.V.'s like the Hummer H2, the Lincoln Navigator and the Toyota
Land Cruiser, even if the vehicles were loaded with every available option.
Or a business owner, taking full advantage, could buy a BMW X5 sport utility
vehicle for a few hundred dollars more than a Pontiac Bonneville sedan,
after the immediate tax deductions were factored in.
Tax experts and environmentalists say the plan would provide incentives for
businesses to choose the biggest gas-guzzling trucks because it takes
several years to depreciate the cost of passenger cars and smaller sport
utility vehicles. The ramifications of the Bush plan on S.U.V. buyers were
reported today in The Detroit News.
The potential lift for sales of big S.U.V.'s comes amid rising tension in
the Middle East and increasing criticism of S.U.V.'s from environmentalists
and regulators.
But a top budget official said today that the administration might be open
to changes in the tax code that would bring cars more in line with big
trucks.
"We have an open mind about whether the deduction for cars needs to be
refined," said Dr. John Graham, the administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget.
The tax code now caps deductions for most automobiles. But the largest
vehicles - those that weigh more than 6,000 pounds fully loaded - are exempt
because the relevant portion of the code was written in the 1980's, before
the rise of the sport utility vehicle, and was intended to exempt big
pickups needed on work sites. Now the tax incentives also give business
owners not involved in hauling - doctors, real estate agents, accountants -
more incentive to buy the biggest S.U.V.'s instead of smaller ones, or cars.
The proposal "makes a glitch in the tax code much worse and it benefits rich
businessmen who want to buy massive S.U.V.'s," said Aileen Roder, program
director for Taxpayers for Common Sense. "In essence we're buying these
vehicles for these businesses."
______________________________
Peter Anderson
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING Corp
4513 Vernon Blvd. Suite 15
Madison, WI 53705
Ph:    (608) 231-1100
Fax:   (608) 233-0011
Cell    (608) 438-9062
email: anderson@no.address