Comments on: House Passes Bailout Bill, Incentivizes Bicycle Commuting

By: alesh

alesh — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:31:22 +0000

Note: The Streetsblog post has comments that clarify the situation (it’s not a happy clarification). The link above doesn’t work, but here’s the post:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/10/02/bailout-bill-includes-bike-commuting-benefit/

By: alesh

alesh — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:22:22 +0000

Wait, so… what do I do with this? It sounds to me like I have to lobby my employer to set up some sort of “program” to see any benefit. This would be an uphill fight in any case, and for $20 per month (max) it hardly seems worth it on any level. Please advise….

(ps congrats to TM — I found this link by googling “qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement”.)

By: Noah

Noah — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:37:38 +0000

The bill is written as a credit after reimbursement. If your employer pays you nothing, you get no credit under the provision. If on or after January 1, 2009, your employer gives you $240 to buy a bike, you get that as your credit. One thing that struck me is that if you get a transit pass you cannot get the bike credit as well; ditto for reimbursed parking. Ideally the bike and transit pass credits would work together and be cumulative, particularly since a person who gets parking gets a higher tax credit than the ones getting either the bike credit or the transit pass.

By: maaaty

maaaty — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:36:05 +0000

Great news — and I second the joy-in-pissing-off-the-pill-popper sentiment.

Now, I can’t tell if this is a credit that employers take after implementing a bicycle-incentive program or one that we as individuals/employees take. That would make a huge difference.

The law is here (page 205): http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/latestversionAYO08C32_xml.pdf. I can’t make heads or tails of it.

By: Noah

Noah — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:41:01 +0000

You know when you piss off Rush Limbaugh, you’ve hit the big time. I can’t stand the jerk and don’t listen to him, but when I researched the break on-line I came across his anti-bike commuter tax credit rant:

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?b78bea10-2c11-466b-9647-8e1d6d6231ad

I commute by bike anyway, but knowing I get a credit AND piss off Rush - that makes my day!

By: Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:41:14 +0000

$20 a month is not a lot . . . but as my grandpa used to say ‘it’s better than a poke in the eye with a stick’. When you add that $20 to what I save in parking, gas, wear & tear, and insurance, it’s a nice little chunk of monthly change that I didn’t have in my pocket before.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:30:17 +0000

Plus about a trillion dollars less spent on things like Transit funding…