Buy a Hummer, Get a Tax-Break

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.

Sometimes I have to wonder if Bush and his administration actually comprehend the fact that oil is a finite resource and that somehow, someday (and preferrably sooner, rather than later), we need to get away from being so dependent on it and start providing incentives for people to become more energy conscious, including buying more energy efficient cars.

Even if we do go to war against Iraq and gain more power over their oil reserves, there will still come a day when there simply won't be enough.  Wasting it now does no one any good. Encouraging business owners to buy wasteful vehicles is simply stupid.  This is a plan that caters directly to automobile manufacturers, who make a tidy profit on the big SUVs, and the oil companies who love selling the large quantities of gasoline they require to get around.  It also benefits businesses that are in the market for a new car of any kind, since the plan would allow them to deduct the entire cost of a large vehicle immediately.