Rule No. 1 of “green” policy-making: Offer tax incentives to encourage behavior you’re trying to support.
Rule No. 2 of green policy: Do not tax behavior you’re trying to support.
Rule No. 3: Do tax behavior you’re trying to discourage.
Then there’s rule No. 4: Examine budget priorities to reallocate resources to behavior you want to encourage. One week of U.S. military spending would take care of bicycle infrastructure needs for years to come.
Rule No. 5: When the horse is dead, stop beating it.
If you buy a Prius you get a $7,500 tax credit from the federal government for being so green. But when I buy the greenest vehicle of all I get bupkis.
Let’s extend that tax credit to bikes. $7,500 tax credit for all bikes! You’d get a lot of people riding some very nice bikes that way.
This is a nice idea. I wouldn’t ride that expensive a bike (unless it also came with armed guards), but I wouldn’t mind getting a 1/2 off deal for each new bike purchased! I can certainly see some heads turning as I roll around on my Yuba loaded to the max and casually mentioning that it only cost me a couple of beans because Uncle Sam loves the bicycle.