OK, I'm a little late on the draw on this piece of news-- but I'm interested to find out if my employer is participating in one of 2009's new tax credits -- the bike commuter refund. Here's a bit of background on the legislation:
A congressman named Blumenauer (D-OR), and a senator named Wyden (D-OR) sponsored the bill, and former President Bush signed it into law back in October of '08. Now, the maximum benefit is only 20-bucks per month -- and it only applies to months you cycled to work in 2009.
Basically, some employers may reimburse this amount to employees, tax free, for "reasonable" expenses related to their bike commute- up to 20-dollars-per-month (Ha, of course I know this is pretty much a drop in the bucket when it comes to cost of gear, etc, but hey, 20-bucks is 20-bucks). Of course, the Bicycle Commuter Benefit only applies IF the bicycle is used as a "substantial part" of your trip to work for the month. Unfortunately, if you already get other commuter tax free fringe benefits like a Commuter Check or EcoPass... you can't qualify. So, if you're a multi-modal commuter -- the feds have of course set up the system so you can't get multiple tax credits.
What do you think... is this a good step in the direction of companies helping incentivise(?) "green" modes of travel, or just some unnecessary (albeit smallish) federal subsidizing of alternative transportation?
