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EDITORIAL
Easy money? Fore!
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Updated: Apr. 10, 2012 | 9:42 a.m.
As part of the huge $878 trillion (Or was it $787 billion? Can anyone remember, anymore?) "economic stimulus" created in Washington last winter, Congress OK'd a tax credit of between $4,200 and $5,500 for Americans who purchase an electric vehicle.
Some controversy arose as to which vehicles, exactly, qualified. The IRS recently ruled any electric vehicle qualifies for the subsidy, so long as it is road-worthy.
That means the model in question needs to have side and rearview mirrors and three-point seat belts, and be capable of going at least 15 to 25 mph. Meet those requirements, combine the federal credit with similar incentive plans in many states, and many a creative subject of the realm has discovered the government will now pay virtually the entire cost of acquiring a new ... golf cart.
"We thought Cash for Clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic," The Wall Street Journal editorialized on Oct. 17.
"The purchase of some models could be absolutely free," Roger Gaddis of Ada Electric Cars in Oklahoma enthused. "Is that about the coolest thing you've ever heard?"
The IRS also has ruled there's no limit to how many electric cars an individual can buy, the Journal reports, inspiring some enterprising investors to stock up on multiple carts while the federal credit lasts, in order to resell them at a profit later on.
"This golf-cart fiasco perfectly illustrates tax policy in the age of Obama, when politicians dole out credits and loopholes for everything from plug-in cars to fuel efficient appliances, home insulation and vitamins," The Wall Street Journal concludes. "Democrats then insist that to pay for these absurdities they have no choice but to raise tax rates on other things -- like work and investment -- that aren't politically in vogue. If this keeps up, it'll soon make more sense to retire and play golf than work for a living."
Like the science fiction novel in which the new planet being settled by earthlings has only two species of animal, which get along just fine by simply eating each other, it sounds fine in theory. Try it for too long in the real world, though, and we suspect you might end up in the same place as those people who bought multiple houses on margin to flip them "because housing prices can only go up," or the guy who plowed his life savings into a chain letter and then sat there, waiting for the promised envelopes full of cash to start showing up in his mailbox ...
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Am I buggin' you, Fred(s)?
Don't mean to bug 'ya...
So the government is giving out golf carts that citizens ans businesses can sale for income?
Golf cart sellers have business.
Golf cart makers hire new workers.
Raw materials industry gets more business.
Golf courses generate more interests.
"Arab Oil" consumption continues to decline in the U.S.
Some unemployed American figures out how to make a 100 bucks.
These things are opposed while the many billions of taxpayer money squandered on Boeing and Lockheed's countless useless projects are supported.
Evidence the "Tea Baggers" and the party of "no" just don't get it.
(Quick, go buy a lot of ammo and get your gun, someone is at the door offering free dental insurance.)
@Fred L-
And how typical of you to select only a portion of the code that deals with these credits. For the rest of the story, read below:
"EESA created a tax credit for vehicles that have at least four wheels and draw propulsion using a rechargeable traction battery with at least four kilowatt hours of capacity. For 2009, the minimum credit is $2,500 and the credit tops out at $7,500 to $15,000, depending on the weight of the vehicle and the capacity of the battery." -from irs.gov.
Tax lawyers and the I.R.S. are loosely interpreting these rules and have allowed the credit for golf carts with any combination of batteries that total 4kw/h which price out at between $5,000 and $6,000 and are "designated" by the distributor as Neighborhood Electric Vehicles with the addition of side mirrors and seat-belts. In addition, there are more upscale NEV's that top out around $15k, most of which are simply golf cart chassis-based with added body work.
As you can see, the $2,500 limit does not apply to these vehicles and most golf carts are inexpensively, and easily modified to meet the criteria for the EESA credit.
My world, Fred, is one of reality and practice, not one of idealism and wishful thinking.
Fred:
Thanks for the effort!
Course, its just more support for what people here know all ready.
Enough of all this firefighter BS that shows up on almost every blog! We don't care about you overpaid crybabies.
And wow..it's pretty amazing that you were "the fire department", maybe you should have taken an English class in your off time.