kf5nd

The truly lower class doesn't pay Federal income tax!

The cost of cycling is not what discourages people!

kf5nd

A tax credit? Dream on. Maybe the sugarplum fairy will descend and award that gift.

Christof H

Maybe so. Might be easier than some blue sky nation wide infrastructure project......

I know we disagree, which is fine. If everyone agreed it'd be boring


Seriously, though, it's important to know how we disagree, and why we both think what we think.

Christof H

yes and no. I mean, okay, with kids we don't pay much, if anything, in tax. (there's a bit of debate as far as that goes in specific tax areas)

The "truly lower class" as defined by you (anyone who makes less than standard deductions) aren't the only ones who would benefit, though. $12,000 a year isn't zero tax for a single person. and that's at or slightly less than you'd make at most jobs. (It's well under full time employment at California's minimum wage of 2006, which is about where we are set to raise the national minimum wage to.)

So you'd have to make it something that counts on top of your standard deduction, sure. it's also why I favor a credit insteadofa deduction.

I'm not sure how much you make, I'm guessing based on your posts that it's more than zero taxable. But hey, my definition of fiscal conservatism includes intelligent spending, not just saying no to anything because we've got a decificit happy administration. That's a much larger issue, and was proven to be fixable before the current administration got in. I'm alsonot arguing that. Deficits are generally a bad thing except in the strictest and most well disciplines Keynesian style (and even that's iffy). But I don't think the amount of money we're talking about is enough to matter- hell, it's probably not even enough to get seriously on the LAWCAP radar.

filtersweep

Well, we don't pay interest, the price of a vehicle, the cost of maintenance (and all included taxes), fuel, the extra tools, parking... it goes on and on. There are already so many benefits.

Dwight92397

I was just thinking about the blogger in Belgium who gets paid .15 Euro per km of bicycle commute. That works out to be about 32 cents a mile. If he were to commute 10 miles one way, that would be 100 miles a week. If he works 50 weeks, he will be paid $1600 a year. That's a pretty good incentive! Of course he will save more than that in automotive expenses, but I suspect the reimbursement would be a more effective way to get people's attention.

One of our national faults as Americans is the way we tend not to learn what works and what doesn't work in other countries.

Christof H

Yep, and I ride. But it's not enough to get people who don't ride to START riding. AShas been mentioned before- very few people fail to ride becauseit's too expensive. The money issues isn't an idea for makingit affordable- though fror some people it's simply a matter of fairness (if you get a tax break for a hybrid, it isn't fair not to get a tax break for a cleaner vehicle). Nah, the money issue boils down to a bribe to get people to try it.

filtersweep

I don't like to bribe people to reward good behavior--- they did that at a job I once had--- offered money to people to quit smoking. It annoyed those of us who never started. I bike to work for the exercise--

Christof H

the quitting smoking thing is a negative- trying to get people to quit. bike riding is a positive, trying to get people to start. Because of this, it's more inclusive- you wouldn't miss out because you already do it, no, you'd get the same benefits. (me, I've bought 2 new bikes since 1990, I wouldn't get much out of it except maybe decent lights).

And it's not quiteas simplistically Skinnerian as "good behaviour/bad behaviour". With 300 million people in the US, you are going to have thousandsof different types of situations. In some of those, biking would be a *bad* behaviour. For some people, biking 3 months out of the year could be enough. (for some smog regions, too.)

Incentives can work. Which doesn'tmean you have to like them, of course.

Roody

Aside from financial incentives, tax credits can provide a psychological incentive. Basically, they are saying that the government (and by extension the society) values bike commuting and encourages it. A tax credit policy says, in effect, that it's a good citizen's patriotic duty to ride a bike. This should have a positive impact on top of the more direct economic impact.

kf5nd

Remember the President's Physical Fitness Award? That got millions of American kids running, jumping, and doing push-ups in it's day. Well, how about the President's Bicycle Commuting Award? Get a nice fancy frameable certificate signed by GW (or Nancy Pelosi if you wish) if you start bike commuting and keep it up for 90 days or 6 months.

Lots cheaper than giving away $100s per person per year in tax credits! And I bet it would have just as good an impact.

Roody

Our mayor recognizes bike commuters on Bike to Work Day. I don't know if this little carrot does any good or not. Maybe it would mean more if it came from the Great Decider?

Christof H

I'm not so sure, given the nature of government, that it would be cheaper. Sad,but I'm serious.

The other issue I have with what I think could be a great idea (note that the financial incentive WAS there, a lot of kids got scholarships out of the PFA stuff) is... well, kids. We need adults.

And as much as I'd love it, Nancy isn't president right now.