National Environmental Trust president argues for raising the cap on hybrid tax credits
On Sunday, Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, wrote an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle arguing that Toyota should not be penalized for selling two of the top three most fuel-efficient vehicles in the country. The company's only crime was that they invested roughly $1 billion in their hybrid drive train while the Big 3 were violating the nation's minimum fuel economy requirements and then effectively marketed the Prius which soon became an icon for environmental awareness.
Clapp sees little foresight on the federal government's part when Congress capped the hybrid incentive at 60,000 per automaker and thinks it's even worse that no lawmakers are standing up to raise the cap. Because no U.S. automaker is close to hitting the 60,000 hybrid limit anytime soon, the cap essentially acts as a limit for Toyota and effectively implements an artificial impediment to a "free" competition, reducing the incentive for the Big 3 to change.
Clapp offers an image of the hybrid vehicle market a year from now, when the tax credit for hybrid Toyotas are eventually reduced to nothing. A Chevy Silverado hybrid that averages 18 miles per gallon, he says, will receive a $650 incentive while the 55 mpg Prius will get none.
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[Source: San Francisco Chronicle]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
yes_i_am_an_american 3:45PM (10/23/2006)
I agree with him. This needs to be changed and hopefully it will come November 8th.
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loikll 11:55AM (10/24/2006)
Geez, if you think an election will change anything, you don't understand this issue. This rule is 100% about protectionism for the US automakers. Nothing else. And although Repubs often don't live up to their ideals, at least they subscribe to free trade rhetoric more often than not. Dems don't at all -- they're unabashedly protectionist.
They're more likely to cancel the credit altogether in the name of not giving tax breaks to the rich, than to expand it and help Toyota.
Of course a libertarian view would be to eliminate it altogether and let the market decide the economics of the car business -- but that's not even a consideration here for the powers that be.
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