Get a free Hummer H2 courtesy of Bush's tax cut! (via The Agonist)
Now, let's keep in mind that I was a History and Anthropology major in college. My tenure as an economics major was blessedly short, but I do remember enough of basic macroeconomic theory to know that this is NOT what tax cuts should be about...unless, of course, you live in George W. Bush's America.
"Allow me to introduce you to a fabulous opportunity," Chris Thorpe, a sales representative for Hummer of Alaska, writes in a promotion letter. "A tax 'loophole' so big you could drive a Hummer H2 through it! Imagine being able to purchase the #1 large luxury SUV in America today . . . and receive a deduction for the entire purchase amount from your taxes this year!"
"How is this possible?" Thorpe asks. "Thanks to the Bush administration's recent economic stimulus package, small businesses and the self-employed are eligible to deduct the entire purchase cost of new equipment up to $100,000 the year of the purchase." But these provisions are supposed to help farmers and small-business owners buy equipment to transport merchandise and haul stuff. No matter. "The Hummer H2 qualifies for this IRS Sec. 179 deduction by its gross vehicle weight of over 6,000 lbs. Cars and medium sized SUV's don't qualify for this deduction," Thorpe writes. "If you are seriously considering acquisition of a new vehicle, step up to the vehicle that can take you where you want to be, financially and otherwise."
So is this pitch working? Oh, yes. Since the letter went out in August, Thorpe estimated his Anchorage dealership, the only one in the state, has sold an additional 35 Hummers at $62,000 each. That's pumping serious money into the local economy, a most substantial stimulus indeed.
There is something fundamentally wrong when a tax cut that was trumpeted as benefitting all Americans turns out in reality to significantly benefit the already-wealthy. Then again, George Bush and Karl Rove realize where their votes come from- and it's not from those who inhabit the welfare rolls.
