Some Surprised By 'Clunker' Tax

I thought that cash for clunkers was some sort of con game. Anytime when the gov't shows up passing out "free money" it never turns out well for the indviduals they're trying to help. Just another scam being run by the gov't on the American people.

Obama touts Cash for clunkers

Brad Wood, the general manager for Gerry Wood Honda in Salisbury, said, "It was an excellent program."

Or so he and many others thought. Now in week three, he and hundreds of other dealerships are asking: Where's the money?

"We've got a little over $330,000 owed to us from the government at this time," Wood said.

Down the road in Concord at Ben Mynatt GM, general manager Todd Rakes said, "I know a lot of dealerships out there that have not been paid on any. We've been paid on four, just as of today."

So we did some digging to find out why. Turns out the response to Cash for Clunkers was so overwhelming that the 250 or so government auditors couldn't keep up with the hundreds of thousands of applications coming across their desks.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

But many of those cashing in on the clunkers program are surprised when they get to the treasurer's office windows. That's because the government's rebate of up to $4500 dollars for every clunker is taxable.

"They didn't realize that would be taxable. A lot of people don't realize that. So they're not happy and kind of surprised when they find that out," Nelson said.

www.keloland.com...,89084

So you get nailed at least once and possibly twice. Specifically, you pay sales tax on the full vehicle price (effectively paying sales tax on the $4,500!) and what's worse those states that tax income (that would be most of them!) might wind up counting this as income for state income tax purposes too, effectively taxing you twice.

market-ticker.denninger.net...

So dealers are on the hook for money, people are now going to be taxed on the rebate money and the only winners out of this whole thing are the banks and the new loans they made to people who probably had paid off cars. The car industry also got a boost temporarily.

If the gov't, no matter who is in charge, can't even run a semi simple program like cash for clunkers then how in the world can they be expected to run Healthcare more efficiently?

Wow! Thanks for sharing that. I'm really glad that I am poor and couldn't afford a car even if the government gave me 4500. Who would have thunk they would be taxing it? How funny, and sad and infuriating is THAT?!

Surprise, surprise, the Cash for clunkers program was the brain child of Bernanke himself and let not forget that China is the one that forwarded the money. Surprise and more surprises.

I guess the idea to tax the money comes from the mastermind himself.

[edit on 25-8-2009 by marg6043]

It really IS brilliant when you think about it though. Aint nothin like kickin' a man when he's down.

This about sums it up:

reply to post by Kords21

So dealers are on the hook for money, people are now going to be taxed on the rebate money and the only winners out of this whole thing are the banks and the new loans they made to people who probably had paid off cars. The car industry also got a boost temporarily.

So the plan worked.

This was never about giving people help. This was always about trying to get the automotive industry back on its feet. And of course, help the banks out in the process.

Wake up everybody! Who got the bailouts? Was it the people who needed them, or the banks who caused the mess? Who got the money when AIG was throwing parties for their execs? Was it the people trying to pay for their car insurance or AIG? Who benefited form the mortgage restructuring? The people who still lost their homes, or the banks who managed to get their forfeitures covered by the government?

It's not about helping people. You will get no help from the Feds.

It's about helping those who are well-connected.

TheRedneck