October 7th, 2008
Wall Street Bailout: There’s a bike in that pork
By Shawn Micallef // 3 Comments
The Wall Street Bailout has, of course, been dominating the news the past week (along with some other minor events). Seeing American politics in action, particularly the earmarks that were attached to the bailout bill, is quite something. This taxpayer-activist website lists some of the "Top 10" more interesting "sweeteners". Of interest is Sec. 211, Transportation fringe benefit for bicycle commuters:
Allows employers to provide a benefit to employees for costs associated with bicycle commuting, including purchase and repair of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, and bicycle storage. This provision was proposed in 2007 in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and in the House by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). This provision is estimated to cost $10 million.
Perhaps file under "Strange Bedfellows."
Illustration by doubledareyaa.
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I suspect this will benefit few commuters. It must come through teh corporate office. It is an incentive to businesss not commuters.
How many bikes could $700M buy?
There is also a provision to provide a full tax credit for solar panel installations on residential homes or a personal wind turbine:
http://snurl.com/45olk
The US system is an awful mess of such pork, but occasionally some good comes out of it. Better than Canada, perhaps, where nothing ever gets funded, ever.
Toronto would be absolutely raking it in as a US city - you can just imagine the sweeteners that the city's large political delegation would pull.
Comment by uSkyscraper
October 7, 2008 | 3:56 pm