Expanded Low-Emission Automobile Tax Credit Passes Key Hosue Committee

Jan 28, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Representative Roz McGee holds up a photo taken from the Capitol of the Salt Lake Valley swathed in a yellowish haze. Then she shows one taken on a clear day last winter. It was the same day she first introduced the Clean Air and Efficient Vehicle Tax Incentive bill. Monday, she gave it another shot.

 "I think we want to see this clear valley picture," McGee says. "And it is going to take a lot of work, a lot of changes, to make that possible."

McGee says her bill marks a big step toward that goal. The bill expands an existing income tax credit for alternative fuel vehicles to include all vehicles that meet the Environmental Protection Agency's Smart Way Elite clean emission standards. The bill replaces the current $3,000 tax incentive for natural gas, propane and electric vehicles, which excludes some types of alternative fuel vehicles gaining popularity with consumers, such as hybrids and cars that run on bio-fuels.

 "I believe the time has come as technology is changing, and as the variety of fuels are becoming available to make this tax credit more broadly available,"  McGee says.

In exchange for increasing the number of cars eligible for the refund, however, McGee's proposal cuts the credit to $1,000 per vehicle and restricts it to apply to new vehicles only. Still, the bill won the support of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, and moves to the House for consideration.

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