Take advantage of the bicycle commuter tax credit

A few weeks ago, I blogged about how tax credits for renewable energy like solar and wind were buried in the $700 billion federal credit crisis bailout bill. Well, also buried in that bill was something called the Bicycle Commuter Act, which provides a $20 monthly tax break for every employee of a company that bikes to work.

The money is deducted from the company’s corporate tax bill, and is meant to be passed on to the bike commuters to help pay for maintenance or (eventually) buying a new bike.

Here’s the actual text of the law, if you speak legalese.

Here’s a breakdown of the law, from Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s website. (Blumenauer wrote the bill, so he should know)

* For employees who regularly commute to work by bicycle, employers may offset the costs of bicycle purchase, improvement, repair, and storage at the rate of $20 per month. Based on how the employer chooses to offer the benefits, the employee may bring receipts to be reimbursed, may sign up for regular monthly payments, or devise some sort of voucher system with their employer.
* Bike commuters are not allowed to receive transit or parking benefits in addition to the bike benefit.
* The bike commuter benefit can be provided by employers beginning January 1, 2009.

Ironically, Bluemenauer of Oregon (pictured above), ended up voting against the measure containing the tax credit, because of his opposition to the bloated corporate bailout bill.

So, it’s clearly a bittersweet victory for him and other supporters of bicycle commuting. But it’s a victory nonetheless. The important thing now is to publicize this credit and make sure that everyone who can take advantage of it does.

For more details on the tax credit and other bike-related news, the League of American Bicyclists will be posting regular updates on their website.

Hopefully once we elect Barack Obama and a solid majority of Democrats in the House and Senate, we can start to push through some far more robust bicycle-related legislation. It’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to combat environmental and societal ills like global warming, traffic congestion and air pollution.