Bush plan will encourage buying of largest SUVs by businesses
From Tuesday, January 21, 2003
If the Bush administration's economic plan goes thru, it would increase by 50 percent or more the deductions small-business owners can take right away on SUVs according to this New York Times story (registration required). The ramifications of the plan were first reported in the Detroit Times and come just as there's growing anti-SUV sentiment in the country.
The plan would mean small businesses could immediately deduct the entire price of S.U.V.'s like the Hummer H2, the Lincoln Navigator and the Toyota Land Cruiser, even if the vehicles were loaded with every available option. Or a business owner, taking full advantage, could buy a BMW X5 sport utility vehicle for a few hundred dollars more than a Pontiac Bonneville sedan, after the immediate tax deductions were factored in.
...The proposal "makes a glitch in the tax code much worse and it benefits rich businessmen who want to buy massive S.U.V.'s," said Aileen Roder, program director for Taxpayers for Common Sense. "In essence we're buying these vehicles for these businesses."