My plan, tax credits for riding public transportation and car pooling.

[Sapere aude]

My idea is this. If you ride public transportation regularly you would buy a monthly pass (as my wife does. She rides a clean air bus to work each day.) At the end of the year the transportation company sends you a form like a 1099 that shows how much you paid that year. You then deduct the amount right from you taxable income before you calculate the tax. If you owe no tax you get a refund like the child credit.

If you car pool, you inform the DMV in your state who is in your pool. You put a sticker on your car that designates your car as a registered car pool vehicle. If you are driving during the work week and you don't have riders you are subject to being stopped by a cop and you have to show why there is no one in the car with you. Basically this is the honesty system but it is subject to verification through out the year. There will be a formula taking into account the number of miles driven and the number of people in the pool. All riders get a tax credit for being in the pool.

I don't have this all worked out yet but I think it just might get people out of their cars if the credit is big enough.

[napi21]

1. The only problem I see with your ides that public transp. isn't available

to A LOT of people! I hate to sound self serving here, but I nor my husband have access to publc transp unless we drive more than 3/4 of the way to work...kind of frustrates the idea, huh?

And before you say I should have thought of that before we bought our house, let me tell you what happened. We moved here from Pitteburgh, Pa. in 2000 to a new job, and we bought the house we could afford as close to work as possible. Allbeit would have been a challenge, we could have walked to work. THEN Shrub happened! We both lost our jobs. My husband got a job 13 miles away from home, and at 64, he's not going to walk 26 miles a day and work 8+ hours too! I didn't find another job, and have since contracted an illness that prevents me from driving. I sell items on Ebay from home to make some $$ and to keep from going crazy too!

Now our house is paid for and we can't afford to buy another one close enough to where hubby works so he could use public transp. or walk.

[thecrow]

2. I used to get a credit for riding SEPTA trains

I had to buy monthly passes though
I'm not sure what it was exactly, it was a long time ago 10-12 years.

But we don't have trains that work anymore,...

[NV Whino]

3. It's the start of a good idea, but...

it doesn't take into account people who live in rural areas (moi) where there is little or no public transportation.

[Heddi]

5. Many tax laws don't benefit everyone

I don't get the same credits that someone with a child does

I dont' get the same credits someone with a house does

I don't get the same credits someone who can file head of household does

I don't get the same credits that someone who is a full-time student does

My mother in law lived in rural RURAL Kansas. Her town had 110 people and the next closest town was about an hour away. They had no public transportation and would not have qualified for this tax credit.

However, because of living in a rural area, their house (an early 20th century 4 story farmhouse with 5 acres, a barn, etc) cost $30,000 to buy. Their house payments were about $150 a month. So they don't get the tax credit for public trans, but they get other "credits" in the form of the $$ they save living in that area.

Areas with great public transportation are often more costly in terms of cost of living in housing, groceries, etc. LIving in Seattle, we paid $900 a month for a 1 br apartment and more for groceries and gas and utilities. We also took the bus to work and recreational activities

I now live about 3 hours outside of Seattle in a very rural area. I pay $700 for a 4 bedroom detached house. Groceries, gas, and utilities are lower. We do have public trans out here but it's very limited in its run time and the locations it goes to.

[NV Whino]

8. Like I said, start of a good idea

For those of us who live in rural areas, the tax break could be switched to using non-poluting, energy efficient vehicles. Lots of possibilities.

[tech3149]

4. It's a good start but we'll need to go further.

We need to restructure our communities to be less energy-intensive and sustainable. I grew up in the remnants of an old mining town. You know the ones with company owned homes and stores. After the mine closed and the company left we maintained the structure of the community. You could get most anything you needed within walking distance. If not, you'd do it on your weekly trip into town. That trip was a short 10 miles and something we looked forward to. Half of the back yard was garden space for growing food. We were luckier than most because we had grape vines and raspberry bushes thanks to my Grandpap. It seems odd to remember selling a quart of raspberries for $.50 considering what they cost today.

The county seat had a publicly owned and maintained electric trolley service that cost next to nothing to use and got people to work every day. We didn't have to haul two tons of steel fifty miles to get to work.

If you want to expose yourself to ideas that could make a serious change for the better check out Catherine Austin-Fitts and the Solari principles http://www.solari.com/ Beyond the benefits of reduced energy consumption and more sustainable communities, the level of connection to your neighbors will help build a sense of community.

[TheFarseer]

6. Public transportation is doable

credit for carpooling would be a disaster. There's no way to check on it. Pretty much everyone could take it. I could see bus passes or subway being deductible on a schedule A (itemized deductions) I would be afraid that no matter how you gave the tax break, people who already do this would just be getting free money and it wouldn't be enough incentive for people not currently using public transportation to ride the bus. Still worth looking into for a workable solution.

[Heddi]

7. I think it's a great idea

When I lived in Seattle, I lived and worked downtown and the 2 companies I worked for gave heavy discounts on bus passes. One gave you a month-long bus pass for $10 instead of $30, and the other gave year long bus passes for $18 a month instead of $75 a month. Even without the subsidies, I would have had a bus pass anyway because hubby and I used the bus system to go to various places where driving and/or parking just didn't make sense.

However, not all companies offered subsidized bus passes and most people I knew paid for passes out of their pocket. The passes are cheaper than buying single tickets, but if you live in one "zone" and work in another, the monthly costs can be quite high.

I don't live in Seattle anymore---I live a few hours away now and don't have access to the all-encompassing bus system that seattle had. I wouldn't be able to use the busses out here because they only run once an hour and only run between 8am and 6pm and not at all on Sundays. Their route is very limited and doesn't go where most people need to go. In fact, you see the busses here and there's never more than 3 people on any bus at any given time.

I think ANY tax incentive that encourages people to get out of their cars and into a bus is a great idea.

I knew people who lived in Seattle and worked in Redmond or Kirkland--they drove that ridiculously trafficky drive every damn day because they said "the bus takes too long"---well, it's about an hour each way in the bus, and about an hour and a half in the car IF you're lucky enough to not hit shitty traffic. Even though they went through far more than $30 a month in gas on that drive AND the outrageous parking prices, they didn't see the benefits of taking a bus. I think a tax credit would have at least given them a reason to change their mind.