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National
Wall Street Rescue Plan Includes Tax Credit for Bike Commuters
In an unexpected bonus for bike commuters, the controversial $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed on September 20 and Congress reworked and eventually approved October 3 as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 -- part of $849 billion legislation (H.R. 1424) passed 74-25 in the Senate and 263-171 in the House -- carried along a $20-a-month tax-free reimbursement for biking to work, an employer expense deductible from federal tax beginning next year, reports New York Times writer William Yardley, calling it ''a bittersweet victory'' for the measure's longtime sponsor, Oregon Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer.
Founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus, Representative Blumenauer has for several years advocated such a bike-commute bonus as only fair when other commuters enjoy free or below-rate parking or transit cards.
Still, he voted against the huge bill, because thousands of his constituents contacted his office with objections to the $700 billion corporate financial bailout, said his spokeswoman Lucia Graves, and because of frustration over its lack of stronger provisions to help afflicted homeowners.
''He was looking at the big picture, the state of the economy,'' she told the writer, commenting on the bike-commute tax break. ''It's great that it was on there, but it was not the point.''
Many bike advocates nationwide are happy such a break has finally passed, though some regret it accompanies the $700 billion rescue bill, the writer notes, quoting a Portland resident, bicycling blog editor Jonathan Maus.
''It's a totally weird, ironic political situation,'' he observed. ''It's a pretty small victory. But this gives a lot of people around the country the ability to walk into their human resources office or their manager's office and ask for the credit. It helps move the conversation forward.''
The League of American Bicyclists, reports San Francisco Chronicle writer Rachel Gordon, estimates the federal cost of the $20-a-month employer tax write-off at about $1 million a year.
San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, a sponsor of a law to require all city businesses with at least 20 employees to offer them transit passes, vanpool reimbursement, door-to-door shuttle service or access to a federal tax break for transit use, wants to include the new benefit for bikers as an alternative.
''It's another opportunity to encourage good commuting habits,'' he said about the law, which will take effect next summer, after six month of public education.
For details see http://banking.senate.gov and http://financialservices.house.gov. -- San Francisco Chronicle 10/9/2008
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