SUVs and tax breaks

[question everything]

Some have posted here previously that SUVs got some tax breaks if were used for "business." I am not aware of the details. I think that beyond the regular business expenses of using a vehicle for business, such breaks need to be stopped. Right now, while the CEOs are talking to the Senators.

Hey, I think that car registration fees on these behemoths: Hummer, Denali, Tahoe, Suburban should be raised with the additional surcharge goes to GM.

GM claims, rightly so, that it produced these monsters because this is what their customers wanted. Fine, so now let these customers help get them out of the ditch.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. They were able to take a 100% deduction versus a 5 or 6(?) year depreciation...

.....on vehicles over 5 or 6(?) thousand pounds.

In other words, they were able to deduct the ENTIRE cost the first year.

[amdezurik]

4. over 6000 lbs I believe was the cut-off

so dealers would push options on buyers to get the weight up there. and the secondary cost of that have been more pot-holes and rugh road and increase cost to states counties and cities of road upkeep. Most city roads are not built to take all that weight every day so they break down.

http://ask.cars.com/2007/08/suv-deduction.html

[Merlot]

2. People using SUV's to drive to and from meetings

I think there is a legitimate deductions if you have to haul supplies every week. Work a farm, a restaurant, etc.

But to pick up a few office supplies? No.

[amdezurik]

5. that was what it was originally for

farm work anyway. that is why the big 3 fought to get SUV's classed as "light trucks" so they could help the buyers scam the IRS to get the credit.

[CottonBear]

8. I know a lot of doctors and businessmen who bought Humnmers and huge SUVs

and then drove them to work and wrote them off as a business expense.

You are correct that the deduction was originally for farmers and ranchers who really do need big, heavy duty work vehicles.

[gollygee]

3. If there were tax breaks that good for eco-friendly cars

People would buy eco-friendly cars.

[TreasonousBastard]

11. There are and some do, but...

even a $2,500 tax rebate wasn't enough to spur Prius sales until gas prices skyrocketed. Now, the Prius rebate is over after 100,000 were sold, but it took a long time to sell those 100,000. I believe you can still get the rebate on an Escape hybrid, but they aren't selling all that well. GM's hybrid trucks an Saturns don't seem to be selling all tha well, either, but I haven't seen all the sales numbers.

Accelerated depreciation for a huge Ram pickup or Escalade still exists, and if you can claim the deduction it could make the Escalade cheaper than a Camry and way cheaper than that Mercedes or CTS you really want.

[Kalyke]

6. This is exactly correct.

And, I agree that people who purchase eco-friendly cars should be given tax breaks.

Actually, I think they are, aren't they?

However, not all the SUV craze can be linked to these breaks. Some people just wanted one because they're better looking than vans, their neighbors had one, they have three kids and two dogs or they just liked their looks.

(BTW, I DO NOT have an SUV - I'm just making a point)

[gollygee]

7. I'll vouch for that

However, not all the SUV craze can be linked to these breaks. Some people just wanted one because they're better looking than vans, their neighbors had one, they have three kids and two dogs or they just liked their looks.

I have many friends and neighbors who have told me they have SUVs for those reasons. "Vans aren't sporty looking enough." "I like so-and-so's Tahoe and wanted one too." "I can't fit all three kids in a car." (My mom drove around three kids in a VW Bug but that was a long time ago.)

Anyway, yeah.

[madmom]

13. My So drives a jeep grand cherokee bought used, bought because it's what he fits into. He is

6'4" tall and has a bum left knee it doesn't bend. His "little" brother is 6'7" tall and buys vehicles that he fits in not vehicles he wants. We both have children (adults now) who were taller than average, so there are other reason's for owning suv's besides looks and convenience.

[gollygee]

14. Of course there are

But most people by them for looks, IMO.

[question everything]

17. No Mini Cooper, then?

;-)

Which is probably more expensive than many SUV.

Of course, people should purchase vehicles that best fit their needs but as many pointed out, for many it was to show off that they could. And the drivers' behavior toward the lowly compacts on the road has been widely documented. Especially with a cell phone in one hand.

I had an '86 Toyota Camry which by then was a compact. In 1998 I had to get a new one but by then the Camry was a standard size. I was considering the Corolla which was a compact and then read about an accident between a Corolla and an SUV, and you can guess which of the drivers was killed.

I have been driving the Camry ever since.

[question everything]

15. I once drove with a co-worker, a woman, who said she liked to sit up high

while driving. My comment was that if everyone would drive an SUV or a truck, then everyone would then be sitting up high and she would lose her advantage.

And, I think, at least in the late 90s, women were the one embracing them in order to "sit high" and then they replaced the old station wagon for the soccer (and hockey?) moms.

I know that in a multi lane road, I would often move to be behind a sedan so that I can see better what's ahead of me.

[Sub Atomic]

9. I don't think any additional 'surcharge' should go back to the carmakers.

They should go to the state the vehicles are registered in and used to help maintain our roads.

Our infrastructure was never designed for thousands of these massive vehicles to be on our streets every day.

Any extra money added on to registration fees should go to the state for road maintenance, not to the automakers.

[Fumesucker]

12. Road damage increases roughly as the fourth power of axle weight..

So a 6,000 lb vehicle causes 2^4 or 16 times the road damage per mile as a 3,000 lb vehicle.

[madrchsod]

10. there should have been a means test for the tax break

small business,rancher,farmer,etc,should be the test not suburban moms and doctors.

[Romulox]

16. This tax break is long expired, IIRC. It survives as an urban legend only... nt

[question everything]

18. Not according to the link provided above

http://ask.cars.com/2007/08/suv-deduction.html

[Romulox]

19. The link above is out of date. I just looked up § 179, and there is no 6000 lb requirement,

for example.