Is your SUV street-legal?
A fascinating revelation: Slate columnist Andy Bowers discovers that large SUVs are actually forbidden on the city streets of many communities! Although as a Californian he focuses on that state, he points out that laws restricting vehicles of more than 6,000 lbs. to designated truck routes are common throught the country. (Minneapolis and Edina have such laws, as a matter of fact.) And more than a few SUVs manage to cross that threshold.
The laws, of course, are written in recognition of the fact that large vehicles cause increased wear and tear to city streets. At the time such laws were passed, only commercial vehicles would have run afoul of such a regulation; now many passenger vehicles violate it every day, and have you ever heard of a ticket being issued to an SUV driving on city streets?
Some would argue that it's an outdated law; Bowers argues (and I agree fully) that 6,000 lbs. is 6,000 lbs. The damage done by a big SUV is no less than that done by the UPS truck. The laws were put in place so that those causing the additional wear and tear to the roads would be fined to cover that damage. Why should that be any different now?
But these are personal vehicles, not commercial ones, you object! Not so, in most cases. That's because the feds allow up to $100,000 of a heavy truck's cost to be written off as a business expense, if its owner claims to use it all or primarily for work. Tax advisors, as Bowers points out, are careful to advise their clients to get big enough vehicles to qualify for this ridiculous benefit, and thus many doctors, lawyers and politicians drive around in three-ton trucks, claiming a full write-off because the vehicles are "business" expenses. OK, so if these vehicles are commercial for the purposes of avoiding taxes, they're surely subject to regulations intended to keep heavy commercial vehicles off residential roads!
Very interesting observations, all around. Will local officials have the cojones to really enforce these laws? Doubtful. The political pressure would be so strong that they'd cave, and simply amend them to exclude SUVs. Meanwhile, these behemoths will tear up the roads just as much as any other large vehicle, their drivers will reap all kinds of tax benefits, and you and I will be taxed to fill the potholes.
The laws, of course, are written in recognition of the fact that large vehicles cause increased wear and tear to city streets. At the time such laws were passed, only commercial vehicles would have run afoul of such a regulation; now many passenger vehicles violate it every day, and have you ever heard of a ticket being issued to an SUV driving on city streets?
Some would argue that it's an outdated law; Bowers argues (and I agree fully) that 6,000 lbs. is 6,000 lbs. The damage done by a big SUV is no less than that done by the UPS truck. The laws were put in place so that those causing the additional wear and tear to the roads would be fined to cover that damage. Why should that be any different now?
But these are personal vehicles, not commercial ones, you object! Not so, in most cases. That's because the feds allow up to $100,000 of a heavy truck's cost to be written off as a business expense, if its owner claims to use it all or primarily for work. Tax advisors, as Bowers points out, are careful to advise their clients to get big enough vehicles to qualify for this ridiculous benefit, and thus many doctors, lawyers and politicians drive around in three-ton trucks, claiming a full write-off because the vehicles are "business" expenses. OK, so if these vehicles are commercial for the purposes of avoiding taxes, they're surely subject to regulations intended to keep heavy commercial vehicles off residential roads!
Very interesting observations, all around. Will local officials have the cojones to really enforce these laws? Doubtful. The political pressure would be so strong that they'd cave, and simply amend them to exclude SUVs. Meanwhile, these behemoths will tear up the roads just as much as any other large vehicle, their drivers will reap all kinds of tax benefits, and you and I will be taxed to fill the potholes.
posted by Bob at
6:44 PM
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