Thursday, February 02, 2006

Hybrids are great for tax breaks in Utah .... except the Toyota Prius

I have many clients to whom I have suggested that purchasing a hybrid vehicle would generate a nice Federal deduction and a State of Utah tax credit. The Federal deduction is working as it should. The State of Utah however has written the credit so that only one car on the market is excluded -- a Toyota Prius. It just so happens that a client of mine went out and bought a Prius based partly on my advice regarding hybrid vehicles, and because somehow the legislature specifically excluded that one vehicle (for no possible logical reason other that making a trap regarding this credit) my client will only get half the tax benefit he was counting on.

Steve Urquhart, if you are out there could you tell me why has this credit included such a ridiculous provision as excluding a vehicle based solely on the fact that the manfacturer didn't choose to make a non-hybrid version. It is highly discriminatory to disallow a tax benefit to a taxpayer that would otherwise qualify, based solely on the type of vehicle. This loophole is like disallowing the child tax credit because the childs first name starts with the letter P.

I guess this situation would argue in favor of the flat tax. The state can't insert nonsensical provisions into its tax code that hurt taxpayers that get caught in their web.

I must admit that I deserve the blame -- a little more research would have saved me from this situation

To my other readers, hybrid vehicles are great for tax write-off's I just hope you avoided the Prius.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

That is simply amazing, although not suprising. This is the same legislature who thinks they can actually pass bills challenging the federal constitution. Maybe Sen. Buttars has something personal against the Prius.

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Th. said...

.

It seems to me that, if anything, a car without a guzzling counterpart ought to be doubly rewarded.

SDJ said...

That is absolutely rediculous.

The Japanese government teamed up with car manufacturers to twist the arm of consumers into buying new cars by implementing shakken tax, roughly $1500 to $2500 to be payed every two years in additionn to the $300 to $500 normal tax. The tax gets higher as the car gets older. The electronics industry got jeleous and within the next two months Japan will be expanding its control by making it illegal to sell electronics over two years old.

I will be careful when I make it back to the States concerning my automobile purchases. Thanks for the heads up.

Sven