Ride a Bike to Work? Bailout Bill Could Mean $20 a Month, Tax-Free, for You
An extra twenty bucks a month might not get you whooping and hollering with joy, but would it inspire you to consider riding your bike to work more and driving less?
That’s what backers of the long-awaited Bicycle Commuter Act are hoping, as the measure that’s been kicking around for seven years was among the many added as a “sweetener” to the $700 billion financial system bailout bill passed by Congress last week. Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer has been pushing for the bike act for years, arguing that similar benefits have long been granted to car-driving commuters.
“We are grateful to Congressman Earl Blumenauer … and other representatives who have worked tirelessly to advance this legislation, as well as all the devoted bicycle advocates who helped promote it,” read a statement from the organization Bikes Belong.
The Bicycle Commuter Act certainly isn’t the “porkiest” addition to the bailout bill. Compared to the $110 to $215 a month tax-free available to transit-riders, car-poolers or regular commuters, it offers just $20 a month to employees who use two wheels to get to work.
A small good thing? Certainly. Unfortunately, it came as part of a massive piece of legislation that has no guarantee it’ll pull us out of our current financial mess … something BlueOregon blogger T.A. Barnhart summed up nicely:
“The Bike Commuter Act is the work of a Congressman who cares about bicycling and introduced this bill to help the cause of bicycling and cleaner, healthier communities,” Barnhart writes. “It’s not pork, and it’s not the problem. It just got taken along for the ride.
“Like the rest of us.”
