Getting Out of Your Car Could Make You Some Money
April 28, 2006 — -- Congress doesn't quite want to cut bicycle commuters a $100 check every month, but there is a bipartisan group of lawmakers in both houses of Congress who want to lower employer taxes so that employees who bike to work get a break on their federal withholding taxes -- which translates into more money in their pockets.
The bipartisan bicycle bill, which is based on the same principle as the fringe benefit that enables companies to subsidize the commuting costs of employees who ride public transportation, is flying below the radar even though most lawmakers were scrambling this week to convince voters that they share their worries about rising gas prices.
With great fanfare, members of Congress held news conferences on their various proposals to cut taxpayers $100 gas relief checks, open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and pledge billions to research into alternative fuels.
Most of the proposals, whether coming from Republicans or Democrats, did nothing at all to encourage Americans to keep their Hummers in the driveway and find other ways to get to work. Politicians, after all, know that Americans like their politicians to "keep America safe," "be tough on crime," and never, ever mess with Americans' cars.
Perhaps that is why one of the few gas prices-related proposals actually aimed at getting Americans out of their cars is one that does not receive a lot of attention.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, without news conferences or even a speech on the Senate floor, introduced the Bicycle Commuters Benefit Act of 2006. A similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Wyden's fellow Oregonian Democrat Earl Blumenauer in February.
The bill would give people who commute on their bicycles a pretty hefty tax break: between $40 and $100 per month. Wyden's office estimates that would be as much as $100 million per year total in tax breaks for bicyclists.
"According to recent Census reports, more than 500,000 people throughout the United States commute to work by bicycle," wrote Wyden in the Congressional Record. "They are freeing themselves from sitting in traffic. They are saving energy and overcoming their dependence on oil and gas. They are getting exercise, avoiding obesity, and helping us keep our air clean and safe to breathe."
While the tax breaks for people who ride public transportation -- on which the bike bill is modeled -- compensate people for bus and train ticket prices that can add up over a year, the bicycle bill rewards commuting that, after the cost of a bike, is essentially free.
Fans of the bill say the money not collected by the IRS as a result of the benefit could also be viewed as an investment in cutting down on obesity and endorsing public health.
Wyden may have been influenced by some of the people on his staff. In addition to bike advocacy groups in Oregon and Washington, D.C., Wyden counted as supporters the "hundreds of Capitol Hill employees who commute by bike to work every day."
"How many billions in a day are spent on other things, this is such a miniscule amount," said James Koski, Blumenauer's deputy chief of staff, pointing to the health and air quality issues that aren't quantified in tax dollars.
The bill has bipartisan, though probably not broad support. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Olympia Snowe, D-Maine; and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have all signed on as co-sponsors. Forty-seven members of Congress from both parties are also supporting the bill.
"With the price of gas hitting $3 a gallon in Maine and across this country, we need to be doing everything in our power to try to move people away from our dependence on oil. We believe our legislation providing our nation's bicycle commuters with the same incentives as those commuters who rely on mass transit is a small step toward that worthy goal," Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement.