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Commuter tax benefit
May 30th, 2008 by Fritz 
Bicycle Commuter Benefit on House Tax Extender Bill
On May 21, 2008, prior to the Memorial Day recess, the House passed H.R. 6049, the “Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008.” Included in the legislation is a $20 per month transportation fringe benefit for bicycle commuters to cover costs of commuting by bike.
The Senate House finance committee is expected to take up this measure the week of June 2nd. The League of American Bicyclists is asking people to contact Senators who previously co-sponsored S. 858 (Bicycle Commuters Benefit Act 2007) to sign onto a joint letter, being distributed by Senator Wyden, to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Finance Committee asking them to adopt the House provision.
Please take a moment to click this action link to contact your Senator and urge them to sign onto the joint letter.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Biking to work just keeps on paying dividends, doesn’t it! I will never stop!
May 30th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
maybe i’m missing something … do all people who commute get the $20/month then? also, there was a 2007 one? did that one pass?
May 30th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
The 2007 version passed in the House version but not the Senate version of the Energy Act, and the bicycling provision was eventually removed in compromise version that was eventually passed by both houses. Some type of bike commuter provision has been introduced by somebody in Congress every year for at least the last five years or so.
For the 2008 version introduced by Rep Rangel, the benefit comes in the form of a reimbursement for expenses “for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment.”
May 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am
Howdy–
I’ve always figured the best way to begin a negotiation is with your greatest demand–so what’s with the paltry $20?
Ranchers who use soil conservation measures can apply for–and receive–money for carbon credits based on the carbon they sequester in the soil through conservation practices. It doesn’t matter if they’ve always done it that way, they can still get the credit.
So where’s my carbon credit? The benefit to our society of bicycle commuting goes well beyond my consumer purchasing power. Please note I said the benefit to society, not the benefit to the economy.
That’s because our economy is only designed to measure consumption. Burn up more gas, and that goes down in the plus category for the GDP. Stop burning gas, and you get no credit.
The $20 a month only measures costs, it doesn’t attempt to account for the benefit we as bicycle commuters provide. We reduce all kinds of social costs, from health care to road maintenance, and even fuel prices could go down if we can reduce demand (that’s assuming supply and demand actually applies here–there are probably some shadier forces manipulating that market).
The meek don’t inherit squat. We need a big, booming voice to demand that beneficial activities such as bike commuting be supported and encouraged. A cyclist should get every cent of milage credit a driver gets, and then some.
Being self-employed, I can end up paying nearly 25 percent of my income in taxes, despite hovering around the poverty level. Any expenses I can write off are useful. I haven’t done the math, but I believe I would be better off financially if I used a car for work.
Of course, I’d be worse off by most every other measure, so I’ll keep riding.
Happy Trails,
Ron Georg
Moab
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:05 am
I really like the steps that the government is taking to increase the benifits to bike commuters.
Living an hour (driving distance) away from my office makes it impossible from my end…I wish I could though!
The is my first time on this blog on your network…great job!
-198
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:06 am
Rob,
Don’t give up before even starting.
It’s possible to ride and use transit. I live an hour from work (23 miles). I ride the first 13 and take a bus the rest of the way. Occasionally, I even ride the entire way.
Look up bus schedules on the route and see what’s available. For every gallon of gas you save, that’s 20 pounds of CO2 (and other icky stuff) that you are not putting into the air.
(And yes, there are tax breaks for transit users too).
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Alan,
Man I wish! Getting from the north side of Atlanta to the South side is tricky even by car. Unfortunately, we do not have a very well established public transit system in our area.
What I need is a way to work from home! Maybe the blogging thing will work out over time…
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
So how will one prove that they do indeed commute by bike to work? Or does it just involve showing a purchase receipt of a bicycle?
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Vegan, to be honest the current system of tax free transit benefits is wide open to fraud and abuse. Commuter Checks, for example, are often advertised on Craigslist for about 90% of their face value. That’s free money for the person who gets them for free from his employer. I’ve even seen VTA EcoPass for sale on Craigslist for free — those are worth over $600.
Recent research by the US Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General shows that transit benefit fraud by federal government employees has *never* been prosecuted. It’s a low risk, moderate reward activity.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I can’t speak for the rest of the working stiffs, but my employer — my direct supervisor, also — not only know that I commute to work by bike EVERY DAY, but that I am car-free. In addition, with the knowledge and consent of my employer, my bike comes in the building every day.
I will be surprised, nevertheless, if the $20 materializes — I work for the biggest retailer in the world, and they are notoriously miserly when it comes to us, the worker bees. It will be, for me, $20 I didn’t have the minute before, so I’d take it and run! (or ride, as he case may be)
July 30th, 2008 at 9:49 am
I just stumbled upon this blog, I think this is a great start!
I started bike commuting this past may and have maybe driven my car 5 time total since then. We all need to push actions like this through - at work, local community and federal.
I will be following this closely and using this benefit next tax season.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Hi Jim, and thanks for stopping by. The Senate’s version of the bill didn’t contain the bicycle commuter benefit, and that provision was eventually dropped by the Conference Committee that worked to reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
How do we find out who voted against it so we can vote them out next election?