Who gave the Hummer a tax break???

Who gave the Hummer a tax break???

We just watched the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car” and it raised many questions about how people make choices…in my opinion.  You should definitely watch it if you haven’t seen it, because for being a fairly “Green” person myself, I had NO IDEA that these fully electic cars were on the road and available to some folks.  But the most striking thing was one of the facts they raised.  I can’t remember the exact year, but whatever year there was a tax break for Hybrids of $4,000 (and many of us were excited that our government was sooo good about helping out with environmentally friendly vehicles, rewarding those who wanted to change things for the better), that same year owners of Humvees were able to receive a tax break of $100,000!!!  That’s CRAZY! That means you can write off your entire vehicle in the first year!  Not sure if the movie was just blowing things out of proportion?  Google it and research it for yourself.  It was based off a 1970 law that waived taxes for vehicles over 6,000 pounds (because they figured no one in their right mind would ever own a personal vehicle weighing over that amount of weight!), and it was aimed at helping farmers to not have to pay taxes on vehicles crucial to their sustanance from working.  But go ahead, take a moment to Google it.  Don’t take my word or the movie’s.  Google “hummer tax break” and you will get more than enough links to take a look at.  Sorry I don’t have a photo to go along side it, but I’ll try and post something at a later point that will hopefully relate in some shape or form.

*BLOG AMENDMENT*
Thanks to a good friend for relaying some very useful information that sheds some more light on the above subject:

“There used to be a tax law that allowed any vehicle over 6,000 GVW used by a business 100% and bought new in any specific year to deduct up to about $100,000.  But it’s like any other business asset.  You get a one-time depreciation deduction  in the year purchased for a maximum of the cost of the vehicle.  I don’t know what  a hummer costs and it may be $100,000.  If it is, you can deduct it but you have to use it 100% in a business.   Not too many people are driving their hummers 100% for a business these days.  Other vehicles are less expensive but they also could be deducted if they are over 6,000 GVW and used 100% in  a business.
The law actually got changed a couple years ago to limit the deduction in the first year to $25,000 unless the vehicle weighs more than 14,000 pounds, like a bus or huge van.”

Due to the fact that this movie came out in 2006, I think the $100,000 tax break was before things changed in the law.  I just wanted to make sure and update this with more data that was true, for all of you out there who like to here it like it is.  Thanks for the update!