Electric bikes and electric motorcycles are awesome. They help you go up hills. They help you reach your destination with a minimum of armpit sweat. And they do this while dumping less carbon into atmosphere than their gas-powered equivalents. (Yes, there is such thing as a gas-powered bicycle. Yah. It’s stupid. We know.) The only problem with e-bikes is that they’re expensive as hell. But it’s your lucky day, because the federal government wants to help you buy one.
Technically, what the government wants to do is give you a break on your taxes for buying an e-cycle of any sort. The Senate Finance Committee just okayed a 10 percent tax credit, worth up to $2,500, for e-bike and e-motorcycle purchases. Thanks, Senate Finance Committee! You were always our favorite finance committee.
This idea still has to make it through the full Senate and through the House and across the president’s desk. But — a point in its favor — the federal government has actually agreed to this idea before, as part of the stimulus package. The credit expired in 2012, so this new push would just re-up it.
A point against it: The law would end an existing tax credit for golf carts. We’re in favor of that, but we’re thinking elderly golfing Republicans might not be.
