I really promised myself that I'd refrain from discussing politics on this blog. Sometimes it's inevitable, though.
Yesterday, Congress passed the "$700 Billion bailout bill". On the one hand, it's another example of an expensive, potentially bad bill saddled with billions of dollars of "pork". On the other hand, one of those "pork" items is a tax benefit for bicycle commuters. The bill allows employers to reimburse up to $20 per month, tax free, of expenses related to getting to and from work on a bicycle.
This might seem unfair, except that it's quite common for businesses to reimburse employees for transit tickets, toll fees, parking expenses, and even fuel costs for drivers and users of public transportation. This bill just encourages employers to treat bike commuters "fairly" in that respect.
Still, while I'm glad that there's a new benefit that will hopefully encourage people to make the bike racks more crowded at work, I'm not pleased that it and a whole lot of other stuff was tacked on to this bill. I think the practice of tacking completely unrelated provisions onto major bills like this is a large part of what is wrong with congress.
So, I'll receive this new benefit (assuming my employer opts for it) with mixed feelings. Glad to have it, but wishing it had been passed in a more transparent way.
Yesterday, Congress passed the "$700 Billion bailout bill". On the one hand, it's another example of an expensive, potentially bad bill saddled with billions of dollars of "pork". On the other hand, one of those "pork" items is a tax benefit for bicycle commuters. The bill allows employers to reimburse up to $20 per month, tax free, of expenses related to getting to and from work on a bicycle.
This might seem unfair, except that it's quite common for businesses to reimburse employees for transit tickets, toll fees, parking expenses, and even fuel costs for drivers and users of public transportation. This bill just encourages employers to treat bike commuters "fairly" in that respect.
Still, while I'm glad that there's a new benefit that will hopefully encourage people to make the bike racks more crowded at work, I'm not pleased that it and a whole lot of other stuff was tacked on to this bill. I think the practice of tacking completely unrelated provisions onto major bills like this is a large part of what is wrong with congress.
So, I'll receive this new benefit (assuming my employer opts for it) with mixed feelings. Glad to have it, but wishing it had been passed in a more transparent way.
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