Beware the new Tax credit for hybid's only lasts until the maker sells 60,000 verhicles. Toyota will proably pass that just after the first of the year so they won't be eleligable for any discount. Also note that 3000$ is the max, but it's a calculated value not a flat one. It's based on the price difference and mileage gain over a similar packages in 2002 that were not a hybrid. This could mean your tax savings could be a lot less.. check out this article.
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Among the new federal tax breaks:
-- Hybrid cars.
Tax credits worth up to thousands of dollars will be available to those buying hybrid cars fueled by gas and electricity as well as other vehicles using alternative power sources. Some of these vehicles aren't yet available to the mass market, said Mark Luscombe, a principal with CCH Inc., a tax information provider in Riverwoods, Ill.
This tax credit essentially will replace the $2,000 federal tax deduction on hybrid purchases.
The size of the credit will depend upon the vehicle's weight, fuel economy and lifetime fuel savings, and consumers likely can count on manufacturers doing the math for them, Luscombe said.
Buy a hybrid car next year, for example, and you may receive a tax credit ranging from $250 to $3,400.
But don't wait too long to make that purchase. The credit may be claimed only on the first 60,000 hybrids sold by each manufacturer, and thereafter it's phased out.
"That means to reward people who are the pioneers, or the first to buy and jump-start the market," Castelli said.
Some say the cap also helps domestic manufacturers that have lagged their Japanese competitors on developing hybrids.
The credit will expire in 2010 for hybrid medium and heavy trucks and a year later on hybrid cars and light trucks, according to CCH. It runs through 2014 on fuel-cell vehicles.
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You might better off buying this year vs next ... though current 2000$ is a income reduction so the amount you save will be based on your tax bracket... You'd think this would be simple but I swear the new rules are a really a "No Tax Accountant Left Behind" goverment program. Think of the career ending tsunami if they ever actually simplified the tax code to a flat tax and all the non-value added labor we could dump!
Mike-in-Michigan (Richland that is) <br> "We never lack opportunity, the trouble is many don't recognize an opportunity when they see it, mostly because it usually comes dressed in work clothes...."