Senate Tax Bill Contains Fourfold Increase of SUV Tax Loophole
WASHINGTON, DC, May 19, 2003 (ENS) - The $350 billion tax cut passed by the
Senate late last week contains a $100,000 tax break for buyers of the
largest, least fuel efficient sport utility vehicles (SUVs). This fourfold
increase of the existing tax break effectively subsidizes the full purchase
price for 38 of the largest and most expensive SUV models on the American
road, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
"Forget zero-percent financing. This is a six-figure loophole big enough for
a Hummer," said Dan Lashof of NRDC. "And that is just what every American
taxpayer will be footing the bill for if this measure becomes law." The
language in the tax cut bill would allow business owners to deduct up to
$100,000 cost of a new, large-size SUV in just one year.
The original tax break for large SUVs was intended to help farmers,
contractors and other buyers of working trucks, Lashof explained, not the
owners of well-heeled luxury vehicles. It applies only to vehicles that
weigh more than 6,000 pounds, including the Hummer, the Range Rover and the
Cadillac Escalade.
The expanded SUV deduction will cost taxpayers billions, according to the
congressional Joint Tax Committee, and environmentalists argue the tax break
encourages the use of some of the nation's least fuel efficient and most
polluting vehicles.
The House and the Senate will have to reconcile competing versions of the
bill before sending the final bill version to the White House and the SUV
tax break increase could still be removed.
"It is an unfair subsidy for select buyers of the biggest, most expensive
SUVs," Lashof said. "The Senate bill makes us more dependent on Middle East
oil at the very time we should be kicking the petroleum addiction."
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