From George Will, January 9, 2014, Florida Times Union.
QuoteThe era of Gesture Liberalism is at hand. It may be more amusing than consequential.
Americans who exercise consumer sovereignty wherever Barack Obama still tolerates it are constantly disappointing him. For generations they persisted in buying what he calls "substandard" policies from what he calls "bad apple" health insurers. They stopped only when he forced them to stop.
Have consumers thanked him for trying to wean them away from their desire to drive large, useful, comfortable, safe vehicles that he thinks threaten their habitat, Earth? The 2013 numbers tell the tale of their ingratitude. In 2013, for the 32nd consecutive year, the best-selling vehicle was Ford's F-Series pickups.
Today's consumers, who cannot get it through their thick heads that they are supposed to want wee vehicles such as Chevrolet's Volt, bought 763,402 F-Series trucks. That is 740,308 more than the number of Volts General Motors sold.
In 2010, a GM official carefully said "more than 120,000 potential Volt customers have already signaled interest in the car." Signaled? How? Not by buying. At the 2013 rate, by 2046 GM will have sold as many Volts as Ford sold F-Series trucks this year.
The sort-of-electric Volt - it is a hybrid - probably is one of those great ideas Joe Biden celebrated in 2010: "Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive." Government's incentive for Volt buyers is a tax credit up to $7,500. A 2011 study showed that taxpayer-subsidized Volt or Nissan LEAF buyers had average incomes of $150,000, and more than half of them owned at least two other vehicles. Nice!
In 2009, the Obama administration disapprovingly said: "GM earns a large share of its profits from high-margin trucks and SUVs, which are vulnerable to a continuing shift in consumer preferences to smaller vehicles." Continuing? A 2011 Wall Street Journal headline: "Americans Embrace SUVs Again." A Wall Street Journal subhead last week: "U.S. Sales Cruise Back to 2007 Levels, Driven by Fondness for Pickups, SUVs."
Building the Volt was bankrupt-and-bailed-out GM's gesture of obeisance to its Washington masters.
Leave it to you Stephen to pull out Bush, when did his term end?
Why not go back to Reagan or Bush Senior? I mean we can pull apart LBJ's tenure, if we wished.
Well the Bush era tax break was stupid, but was limited, apparently to small business owners so not sure how wide spread it was actually used. The bush incentives weren't meant to open up a new market, suv's sold in mass quantites long before this so its sort of an apples to oranges comparison. The tax break on the Volt and other type cars doesn't really bother me, few are using it. Actually due to the price of the base car, doubt seriously if the incentive is having a significant impact on sales at all. If you can afford a volt you really don't need the incentive, but its nice to have.
Quote from: stephendare on January 12, 2014, 01:09:12 PM
Must be why the SUVs failed to get any traction in the US.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-01-20-suvs_x.htm
QuoteBush plan gives huge tax break to buyers of big SUVs
By David Kiley, USA TODAY
DETROIT — Buying big, luxurious sport-utility vehicles could cost a lot less under the Bush administration's economic stimulus proposal, even though a Bush appointee blasted SUVs last week as dangerous fuel hogs.
Small businesses and the self-employed could deduct the entire cost, up to $75,000, from business income the year of the purchase. Normally it would be written off over several years, using a depreciation schedule. Deducting the entire cost in one year considerably reduces that year's taxable income, and income taxes. In some cases, it could result in paying no federal income tax.
A similar deduction in the current tax code is limited to $25,000. Tripling that creates a much more alluring incentive at a time when SUVs are under fire for fuel consumption and safety concerns.
Bush appointee Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, scolded automakers at an industry conference one week ago for not making SUVs safer and more fuel efficient. He told reporters that he considers some SUVs so dangerous he wouldn't allow his family in them "if they were the last vehicles on Earth."
A stung auto industry shot back with statistics showing SUVs are very safe in the most common types of crashes.
White House spokesman Taylor Gross said Monday that the provision "is not designed to favor one vehicle over another, but rather to allow small businesses to buy more equipment and to create more jobs."
Computers and other equipment do also get favorable treatment in the provision to help small businesses and the self-employed upgrade their hardware. But the language regarding vehicles limits the tax benefit to those with a gross vehicle weight rating of 6,000 pounds or more. That means full-size SUVs and pickups.
As a result, an accountant who'd do fine with a 30-mile-per-gallon compact sedan as a company car could be enticed into a big, 15-mpg SUV instead because of the deduction. Or a real estate agent about to buy a 20-mpg midsize SUV that doesn't qualify for the deduction might opt for a full-size SUV instead, because it does qualify.
Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) estimates that the current deduction cuts tax revenue $1 billion for every 100,000 SUVs, and vows to lobby against tripling the amount. "The market for personal-use SUVs has outgrown the original intent of this tax break," says Aileen Roder of TCS.
"When a loophole gives an accountant an incentive to deduct the cost of his luxury SUV, it makes the argument of how ridiculous" it is, says Jonathan Collegio of Americans for Tax Reform.
During furious SUV sales last month, "We did have some people coming in saying, 'My accountant told me I better buy something,' " says Chevrolet dealer Jerry Haggerty in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
This tax loophole from 2003 has been closed for many years now. I know, my relative loved it until I told him they were closing it. It's funny, I have actually been to Jerry Haggerty Chevy in Glen Ellyn. Even Jerry Haggerty Pontiac in Villa Park down the road. (when Pontiac existed)
People accept fuel economy standards and crash standards as long as the right to choose is maintained. If they choose a truck or SUV, as far as they are concerned, the rest is none of anyone's business.
Obamacare should be the same way. People can accept government managed healthcare as long as they have a right to choose. If they choose private insurance, then as far as they are concerned its none of anyone's business why.
Tax subsidies for hybrids/electrics. Tax subsidies for health insurance. This is what George Will ultimately doesn't like.
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So SUV's were not common on the streets before 2006? Not the new concept of the crossover, but the old chevy expeditions, the old explorers, cherokees,excursions only started selling in quantities after 2006? And the link you attached is the about the depreciation deduction on suvs used for business which is ancient and has nothing to do with purchasing a new vehicle
My apologies stephen I did but my post was in error I made a typo 2006 should have read 2003.
expedition sales
996 45,974[69]
1997 214,524[70]
1998 225,703
1999[71] 233,125
2000 213,483
2001[72] 178,045
2002[73] 163,454
2003 181,547
2004[74] 159,846
2005 114,137
2006[75] 87,203
2007 90,287
2008[76] 55,123
2009[77] 31,655
2010[78] 37,336
2011[79] 40,499
2012 38,062
2013 38,350[80]
References
ford excursion sales
1999[11] 18,315
2000 50,786
2001[12] 34,710
2002[13] 29,042
2003 26,259
2004[14] 20,010
2005 16,283
2001 88,485
2002 171,212
2003 162,987
2004 167,376
2005 166,883
2006 133,557
explorer
1990 140,509[55]
1991 282,837
1992 292,069
1993 301,668
1994 278,065
1995 395,227
1996 402,663
1997 383,852[56]
1998 431,488
1999[57] 428,772
2000 445,157
2001[58] 415,921
2002[59] 433,847
2003 373,118
2004[60] 339,333
2005 239,788
2006[61] 179,229
2007 137,817
2008[62] 78,439
2009[63] 52,190
2010[64] 60,687
2011[65] 135,179
2012[66] 158,344
5,863 (Police Interceptor Utility)
2013 178,311[67]
14,086 (Police Interceptor Utility)
Just don't see the huge boost in any of these number let alone the creation of a new market for large vehicles
here's the reality...people will continue to buy SUVs and trucks...but as noted by vehicles like the new Ford Escape, they are now smaller and far more fuel efficient...and that can directly be tied to the raising of CAFE standards.