Free Stuff from Uncle Sam
I just got a free golf cart.
Actually, it cost me $6,490—but the dealer, Colin Riley of Tucson, Ariz., points out that there’s a $6,490 federal tax credit on such vehicles. Riley runs ads that say: “FREE ELECTRIC CAR … !”
Some consumers probably assume it’s a car-dealer scam, but it’s not. It’s an Uncle Sam scam.
The tax code is outrageously complex and damaging in many ways, but it is made especially complex and damaging when congressmen use it “creatively” to manipulate us into doing things they deem “socially constructive.” These are things that always bestow advantages on some politically connected manufacturers at the expense of others. After all, you were either planning to buy a golf cart or you weren’t. If you were, the policy is unnecessary. If you weren’t, you were induced to spend money on that product rather than something else. The unseen victim is whoever would have sold you the alternative product.
Such manipulation is at the heart of the entire “green” strategy.
Harold
Slightly misleading policy