The Chainlink

Why not bail-out bike owners? Why can't the government cut a tax deduction to people buying new bikes? Cycling is green energy! Make it substantial, like a thousand dollars off your taxable income. Comments?

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Good discussion.
For the sake of argument let's use the model of energy rebates on high-efficiency appliances (which is an actual credit rather than an exemption).
How would you differentiate between bikes used for transportational purposes and bikes used for recreation?
there are rebates for biking to work. there is a mileage minimum, and your commute can be combined with bus/train, but majority mileage needs to be bike.

i dont have the info readily handy, but some facetime with google im sure will return answers.
Since January 1, 2009 there is a tax benefit for bicyclists that commute to work. It’s $20/month tax free reimbursement provided through your employer. It cannot be combined with commuter transit benefits. The main problem with it is/was that it was unclear how to implement this.
I haven’t even asked my HR department. They give a whole new meaning to the word non-responsive

Does anyone work in the Chicago area whose employer provides this benefit?
Duppie gets to the core of my concern over an idea like this. All this tax minutia complicates an already over-complicated tax code. I have grave doubts such social "incentives" really change people's minds on transportation options (thus; its funding, viability, and built environment).
I recall there was a thread by a guy working with his HR dept on implementing a program at his work.
Full text of the part of the Bailout Bill as pertains to cyclists here: http://turinbicycle.com/articles/commuters-get-bailed-out-pg400.htm

Duppie said:
Since January 1, 2009 there is a tax benefit for bicyclists that commute to work. It’s $20/month tax free reimbursement provided through your employer. It cannot be combined with commuter transit benefits. The main problem with it is/was that it was unclear how to implement this.
I haven’t even asked my HR department. They give a whole new meaning to the word non-responsive

Does anyone work in the Chicago area whose employer provides this benefit?
Must have been before your time-- there was a monster thread here about this in which someone documented his attempt to take advantage of this benefit in great detail. Too bad the search feature is kaput.
I didn't mention that benefit because I assumed a guy runing a bike shop would know about it already, and because it's really just a meaningless pittance compared to what Robert's is suggesting.

Duppie said:
Since January 1, 2009 there is a tax benefit for bicyclists that commute to work. It’s $20/month tax free reimbursement provided through your employer. It cannot be combined with commuter transit benefits. The main problem with it is/was that it was unclear how to implement this.
I haven’t even asked my HR department. They give a whole new meaning to the word non-responsive

Does anyone work in the Chicago area whose employer provides this benefit?
You mean this discussion? There is a link to some other discussion that appears to have been deleted

It appears that posters could not figure out how to make this work

H3N3 said:
Must have been before your time-- there was a monster thread here about this in which someone documented his attempt to take advantage of this benefit in great detail. Too bad the search feature is kaput.
I didn't mention that benefit because I assumed a guy runing a bike shop would know about it already, and because it's really just a meaningless pittance compared to what Robert's is suggesting.

Duppie said:
Since January 1, 2009 there is a tax benefit for bicyclists that commute to work. It’s $20/month tax free reimbursement provided through your employer. It cannot be combined with commuter transit benefits. The main problem with it is/was that it was unclear how to implement this.
I haven’t even asked my HR department. They give a whole new meaning to the word non-responsive

Does anyone work in the Chicago area whose employer provides this benefit?
Frank,

It was a different discussion. I can't recall the guy's name who started it. I'll let you know if I unearth it.

Duppie said:
You mean this discussion? There is a link to some other discussion that appears to have been deleted

It appears that posters could not figure out how to make this work

H3N3 said:
Must have been before your time-- there was a monster thread here about this in which someone documented his attempt to take advantage of this benefit in great detail. Too bad the search feature is kaput.
I didn't mention that benefit because I assumed a guy runing a bike shop would know about it already, and because it's really just a meaningless pittance compared to what Robert's is suggesting.

Duppie said:
Since January 1, 2009 there is a tax benefit for bicyclists that commute to work. It’s $20/month tax free reimbursement provided through your employer. It cannot be combined with commuter transit benefits. The main problem with it is/was that it was unclear how to implement this.
I haven’t even asked my HR department. They give a whole new meaning to the word non-responsive

Does anyone work in the Chicago area whose employer provides this benefit?
is that something that you can claim on filing taxes?

iggi said:
there are rebates for biking to work. there is a mileage minimum, and your commute can be combined with bus/train, but majority mileage needs to be bike.

i dont have the info readily handy, but some facetime with google im sure will return answers.
After some searching, I'm thinking the thread is long gone. (Why are original posters allowed to delete their entire threads?)

I searched ATA's discussions and found nothing (I'm sure they responded).

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:
Frank,

It was a different discussion. I can't recall the guy's name who started it. I'll let you know if I unearth it.

Duppie said:
You mean this discussion? There is a link to some other discussion that appears to have been deleted

It appears that posters could not figure out how to make this work

H3N3 said:
Must have been before your time-- there was a monster thread here about this in which someone documented his attempt to take advantage of this benefit in great detail. Too bad the search feature is kaput.
I didn't mention that benefit because I assumed a guy runing a bike shop would know about it already, and because it's really just a meaningless pittance compared to what Robert's is suggesting.

Duppie said:
Since January 1, 2009 there is a tax benefit for bicyclists that commute to work. It’s $20/month tax free reimbursement provided through your employer. It cannot be combined with commuter transit benefits. The main problem with it is/was that it was unclear how to implement this.
I haven’t even asked my HR department. They give a whole new meaning to the word non-responsive

Does anyone work in the Chicago area whose employer provides this benefit?
Davo said:
is that something that you can claim on filing taxes?

iggi said:
there are rebates for biking to work. there is a mileage minimum, and your commute can be combined with bus/train, but majority mileage needs to be bike.

i dont have the info readily handy, but some facetime with google im sure will return answers.

No, your employer needs to participate and offer the benefit. The problem is that I don't think the IRS has setup rules on how the benefit needs to be administered so no one is offering it right now.

Yeah, the thread is gone- it's linked from the thread Duppie linked to; thread starters can delete their threads, and also when you leave chainlink, e.g. to start over with a fresh profile, any thread you started goes away too.
That's a NING thing, nothing the chainlink admins can influence. It seems nobody involved in the design and coding of the NING interface has an appreciation for discussion boards and the needs of the communities that can form on them.
The skinny of it was that this person tried long and hard and was ultimately not only unsuccessful, but was in a little bit of hot water as well for pushing something too aggressively that the management didn't want to be bothered with

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:
After some searching, I'm thinking the thread is long gone. (Why are original posters allowed to delete their entire threads?)

I searched ATA's discussions and found nothing (I'm sure they responded).

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:
Frank,

It was a different discussion. I can't recall the guy's name who started it. I'll let you know if I unearth it.

Duppie said:
You mean this discussion? There is a link to some other discussion that appears to have been deleted

It appears that posters could not figure out how to make this work

H3N3 said:
Must have been before your time-- there was a monster thread here about this in which someone documented his attempt to take advantage of this benefit in great detail. Too bad the search feature is kaput.
I didn't mention that benefit because I assumed a guy runing a bike shop would know about it already, and because it's really just a meaningless pittance compared to what Robert's is suggesting.

Duppie said:
Since January 1, 2009 there is a tax benefit for bicyclists that commute to work. It’s $20/month tax free reimbursement provided through your employer. It cannot be combined with commuter transit benefits. The main problem with it is/was that it was unclear how to implement this.
I haven’t even asked my HR department. They give a whole new meaning to the word non-responsive

Does anyone work in the Chicago area whose employer provides this benefit?

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