Subsidies: Gasoline versus batteries
Silverado Hybrid: The perfect vehicle for a Section 179 deduction.
US auto industry already well subsidized – to guzzle
As the last of the hybrid car tax credits begin to expire, hybrid market penetration still sits below 3 percent after a decade on the market. Despite even much larger plug-in tax credits, most expect about the same levels of plug-in adoption over the next decade. So, are subsidies for battery-powered cars a bad idea?
Maybe, but not nearly as bad an idea as the subsidies for cheap gas and gas guzzlers have been. Thus, hybrids and plug-ins deserve a shot.
For years, if you’ve owned a small business, you’ve been incentivized to buy some of the biggest, most expensive gas guzzlers on the market. This Section 179 deduction, known as the SUV Tax Loophole, costs the federal government almost $1 billion dollars for every 100,000 vehicles that businesses buy according to Taxpayers for Common Sense – while also increasing US dependence on foreign oil.
Unfortunately, the government doesn’t keep track of the costs of this program separately. How ironic. Yet, considering the large number of businesses in the US, coupled with the millions of US truck and SUV sales per year, it seems pretty safe to assume this program costs the government billions every year.
If the government is going to give away billions, wouldn’t it be wise to make sure those billions are spent on the most robust investment options possible?
For instance, couldn’t the government have subsidized GM’s dual mode hybrid powertrain into a great success via this Section 179 loophole since it works so well in such large guzzlers? Imagine the massive amount of fuel that could have been saved.
And maybe that’s the problem. Can the US afford to save much fuel?
Already, gas taxes can’t fund transportation costs, and the more we conserve, the bigger the shortfall becomes. Quite simply, the full costs of gasoline haven’t been charged at the pump. And the gasoline subsidies don’t stop there.
For example, even in non-war times, it has been estimated that the coast guard and military costs of maintaining oil tanker lanes out of the Persian Gulf to the US cost several billion, minimally, every year. Why isn’t that cost incurred at the pump? Add in the war costs driven by our oil addiction and the numbers are simply unbelievable – despite being true.
Likewise, it can be scientifically proven that the pollution from automotive emissions – not including CO2 – has caused numerous health problems for many US citizens, including premature death. Shouldn’t those costs be recovered at the pump?
Honesty. Transparency. Those are good words, but can the people handle the truth? Subsidies are everywhere – most of them where we can’t see them, yet they affect every day American life considerably.
Consequently, maybe if US consumers had been paying for the true cost of gas at the pump over the years, hybrids, plug-ins and other efficiency-driven technologies wouldn’t need any subsidies today to compete with the subsidization of gas guzzling.
