| The government is famous for modifying our behavior | | | | purchases, but vehicles are different. The reason? The |
| through financial incentives. With this in mind, you can | | | | price involved. When you buy a car, you are paying |
| now get a big tax break if you buy a new car. On the | | | | tens of thousands of dollars. Depending on the sales |
| off hand chance you've been in a coma the last year | | | | tax rate in your state, this means the cost can add up |
| or so, let me mention that the economy has seen its | | | | very quickly. That makes for a very nice deduction. |
| shadow, screamed in terror and crawled down into a | | | | As with most tax subjects, there are some limitations |
| hole in the ground where it is hiding and refusing to | | | | you need to know. First, you can only deduct sales tax |
| come out! Yep, things are bad. | | | | up to $49,500 of the sales price. If the car costs |
| In an effort to get the economy to come out of that | | | | $60,000, only the sales tax applicable to the first |
| hole, President Obama has pushed various fiscal | | | | $49,500 can be written off. There is also a limit on the |
| stimulus packages through Congress. The largest | | | | amount of money you make. You can claim the |
| package included a host of financial incentives to get | | | | deduction so long as you have an adjusted gross |
| people to start spending again. One has to do with | | | | income of less than $125,000 as a single filer. The |
| buying a new car and it is a very nice incentive indeed. | | | | figure pops up to $250,000 for joint filers. If your |
| GM, Ford, Chrysler and other car brands are getting | | | | adjusted gross income is above these figures, then |
| crushed in the current economic turmoil. Car sales are | | | | deduction slowly phases out depending on how much |
| dead in the water. To help these companies out, the | | | | you actually make. |
| government is giving you and me an incentive to get | | | | It is a great time to buy a car if you can afford it. The |
| out there and buy a car. As long as we buy a new | | | | dealers are desperate to move them, so there are |
| car before the end of the 2009 year, we can deduct | | | | some incredibly deals to be had. Add the sales tax |
| the sales tax we pay on our federal taxes. | | | | deduction to this and you have one heck of a deal! |
| Sales tax generally isn't a big deal with most | | | | |