I know — like me, you had no idea car commuters had more in the way of tax benefits than transit commuters. Sadly (and quite regressively), they did. But that was recently fixed by some savvy, transit-friendly senators.
From Streetsblog:
The commuting costs that straphangers could claim as tax-deductible had been reduced to a maximum of $125 per month last year, well below the $240 that car commuters could claim monthly to offset parking costs.
With transit and parking benefits again equal, there will be one less pernicious financial incentive to drive to work alone, as David Alpert at Greater Greater Washington noted.
There are many reasons to take transit instead of drive. Good to see they’re now on level playing field in the tax credit category.
This is part of an experimental “Sunday quickies” series in which we quickly cover stories recent stories for which we didn’t have time during the previous week.
I'm the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular clean energy website in the world, and Planetsave, a leading green and science news site. I've been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and I've been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, bicycling, and wind energy for the past few years. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Think Progress, GE's ecomagination site, several sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. To connect on your favorite social network, go to: zacharyshahan.com
