Higher tax credits for alternative fuel vehicles in Obama budget
The White House budget released last week calls for increasing the tax credit for electric vehicles from $7,500 to $10,000. Taxes on liquefied natural gas would be cut to encourage its use in motor vehicles. The tax cuts to help AFVs would cost $4.8 billion through 2024.
The proposal would remove the limit on the number of a manufacturers vehicles that can receive the tax credit. Any vehicles costing more than $45,000 (the Tesla Model S and Cadillac ELR) would continue to get the smaller tax credit.
The only car currently running on compressed natural gas is a version of the Honda Civic. Several medium- and heavy-duty trucks use CNG.
Under the budget proposal, dealers could offer a point-of-sale rebate rather than customers having to apply for a credit on their income taxes. The credit would be phased out by 2022.
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