YOUR COMMENTS

I pity the fool who is a used car salesman. You just lost TONS and TONS of inventory.
- Kevin, Portsmouth, NH

The credits are not taxable as income. Go to the following website and see for yourself http://www.cars.gov/faq#category-06

For those too lazy to do that what it says is this:

"Is the credit subject to being taxed as income to the consumers that participate in the program?

NO. The CARS Act expressly provides that the credit is not income for the consumer."

It's in big, bold letters-no fineprint. Stop lying Obamahaters.
- Bob, Bedford

Your not looking at the big picture. How many people brought car with the clunker money. WILL NOT be able to paid for it down the road.How much went to foreign business?Yes it the short run it may have help and may us feel good. But what about the long haul?
- mo, plymouth

Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements)

Jimhenry
Blogger
www.cashforclunkersfacts.info
http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.info
- jimhenry, oakpark

People forgot their purchases were taxable? Nothing is truely free....The tax man cometh, now you writeth the check.
- Jack Alex, Manchester

To Sue,

American cars made by Americans? Are there any of those left? My Honda was manufactured here in the USA using 70% American parts. Fords are manufactured in Mexico, some GM models are manufacured in Canada. I did my research before I bought a "foreign" car
- Carol, Concord, NH

Tom,
The statements I made which you addressed were talking about posters on the UL discussion, not about the writers of the law. The writers I was referring to were the writers of statements saying that cash for clunkers vouchers were taxable. The law, as written, has worked well for the three people who I know have used it. I am sure that for others it didn't work so well, but perhaps they were not so well prepared when they showed up at a dealership.

Have a nice weekend as well.
- Texter, Newfields

I just turned in my 2001 Ford Expedition for a new Honda Civic. I did not qualify for the rebate because my insurance had lapsed breifly in the year prior to buyin the new car.
I waited until late July to buy my car because I feared that I wouldn't qualify due to the whole insurance claus. The "final" ruling on the terms of the cars program came out in late July (aboout the 27th) clearly stating on their cars.gov web-site that even though my state didn't require my vehicle to be insured, the program did require it!
July 31st I bought my new car as planned - didn't receive the rebate.
I wrote to my Rep. (Hodes) and expressed my displeasure that he allowed this program to pass without concideration for the people of his state. One week later the government adds more money to the program and also issues an ammendment stating that NH residents are exempt from having to insure their vehicle for a full year in accodance with state law.
my expedition had since been sold at acution by the dealer and I still wasn't elligable to recieve a penny forom the program. I did get to contribute just like every other tax paying american (thanks to our kids for paying it off someday). Thank you NH for not getting it right the first time!
the one and only time I think i may actually benift from a government program, and once again, I get nothing. Not that I feel the government owes me or anyone anything... but, if they're going to give it away anyway.. why not me this time?!?!?
- George, Nashua

"Any reasonable person would have understood that the implication was that the buyer of the car would be taxed by the IRS for the value of the voucher, which is not the case."

And this is a common (hopefully) misunderstanding (as I understand it), caused by the awful bungling of the Obama administration. State taxes are another matter.

"it appears that is by design of the writers"

If so, they didn't communicate this within their own administration. The NHTSA didn't know what the IRS was doing, and vice versa. Car dealers were certainly taken by surprise!

This program has been horribly, horribly mismanaged by Obama, so badly that any rational person who may previously have thought it a good idea to let Obama run their health care should be dead set against it now.

Have a good weekend.
- Tom, Campton

Tom, Campton,
Jay, Manchester wrote "Now, also I wonder how many of the people who received this 'cash for clunkers' know that this money is taxable and will have to pay taxes on it?" Any reasonable person would have understood that the implication was that the buyer of the car would be taxed by the IRS for the value of the voucher, which is not the case. But, from the many postings I have seen, (Dave Elliott being the latest) it appears that is by design of the writers. If the dealer had sold the car without the 3500 or 4500 voucher, wouldn't they still be liable for the taxes on the sale value of the car? Why shouldn't they be just because the money came from the voucher? Are they being taxed at a higher rate than they would otherwise?
- Texter, Newfields

BTW - The head of GM's Chevy brand warned today of a sales 'hangover' after Cash for Clunkers ends. As predicted.

LOL - great choice of words.
- Tom, Campton

American cars are pretty much crap with the exception of a few models. Other countries have far surpassed American quality and technology, some of you obviously need to get over that fact and stop saying "people need to buy American". NO. People need to buy smart. A majority of Foreign automobiles have facilities here on American soil, that employ American workers. And, even if they didn't, I know if a car is of better quality, gets better mileage, emits less harmful greenhouse gasses, and is generally better, I don't care who makes it, I'm buying it.

Meanwhile, every other vehicle I see on the road continues to be an SUV, Large truck, or something similar with 1 passenger that will never use it to haul anything other than themselves while sucking our planets resources dry and polluting the earth. Look abroad and see who continues to be the smarter countries, generally they will not be Americans.
- Chris, Laconia

Tom Campton: did you miss the part where 2 of 3 top selling brands were GM and Ford?
Not to mention Hondas and Toyotas are also made in the USA.
- Skip, Manchester

Skip M, Ossipee,
Actually, it is the Fusion that has 30 percent us content and is made in Mexico. I know this because my father wanted one, and I chided him that I would have to get a modified horn that played la cucaracha! Heck, the Chevy Aveo has only 4% US content as it is made by Daihatsu in S. Korea. The Chevy Suburban is made in Mexico. The 1996 Windstar my dad got rid of was made in Canada.

Let's all wave our made in China American flags that were purchased at Wal-Mart and keep them furrin' cars out!

Still no takers on the cash for clunkers voucher is taxable statement, I see. More disinformation from the uninformed.
- Texter, Newfields

Texter - the rebates ARE taxable gross income - for the dealers. Automotive News has reported the NHTSA initially told dealers the rebates WOULD NOT be taxable, then the IRS later released an advisory stating that the rebates WOULD be taxable. Revenue from scrapping the clunkers is also taxable. Add to this the fact the dealers must make estimated payments on this liability and they haven't even received the money from the government yet! Another example of the utter incompetence of this administration.

Buyers will not face federal tax liability for the rebates since these go to the dealer. The implications for the state tax liability of buyers appear to vary from state to state; some may pay income tax, some state tax, some neither, some both.

A URL for the Automotive News story:

http://www.autonews.com/article/20090806/ANA05/908069976/1078

And stop with the derogation, please.
- Tom, Campton

Welcome to ObamaWorld. As someone said," If it's to good to be true it ain't true." Like it's been stated how many cash for clunkers suckers knew they had to pay taxes on their government gift? Wait till they get the W2 in the mail or what ever the government sends.
- dave elliott, hooksett

Bill from Derry, my problem with this is where does it say my taxes are to be taken from me to prop up car dealers. Now my taxes are going to go to the appliance dealers to prop them up too. The money does not stay in the US, how many companies build appliances in the US. Does anyone believe that the car sales will stay up in the next few months.

This country needs to focus on how to create long term manufacturing jobs back in this country. Manufacturing keeps the money rotating in the economy here. The stimulus is still there for US companies to ship work (jobs) overseas to make the short term profits so the top exec's can give themselves a bonus. If a comp shifts a job outside the US and then brings that product back in to sell there should be a tariff on it. NAFTA has done nothing for the US worker - big help to Mexican and Canadian workers.
- J, Loudon

People think that the CARS program was only about helping auto manufacturers, but that's not the whole story.

First, for every 2 autoworkers at the Detroit Three, there's another US worker making foreign autos. Second, for each US worker at an auto plant, there are 8 other workers in parts manufacturing and at dealerships in the US.

In NH, the folks at Park Nameplate in Dover, and at Freudenberg-NOK are among the 17,000 employed in the auto industry at over 900 businesses right here in our state.

This is why the CARS program wasn't limited to just US models. In fact, buying a car from the Detroit Three is no longer a sure-fired way to protect US jobs.

Finally, even the profits from auto companies don't just flow to the company's home country. US investors, including pension funds and individuals through 401ks earn a large portion of the profits of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.
- Jim, Portsmouth

I thought I had seen many shiny, new, foreign-made cars on the road!.

What a disaster this administration is - I can't wait until they get their hands on my health care
- Tom, Campton

I just hope to heck this whole thing works the way they wanted....

How many people who can't afford a loan now have one?

The unemployment rate is still very high....and now people are taking on more debt?

All these billions should have been used to help people in this country who are struggling.......put the money where it should have been.

How many "good" cars are being trashed that could have taken a single mother to work, who otherwise can't get there?
- m1e1b1s1, Claremont, nh

Sue, Toyota and Honda have manufacturing plants here in our country, so we are helping ourselves with these brands as well.
- Matt, Nashua

""I think dealers are very happy with the whole program concept," said President Peter J. McNamara, president of the N.H. Automobile Dealers Association."

They should be, they had the equivalent of every citizen, including those too young to drive, walk into their dealerships and give them 17 bucks.

If GM had been allowed to go belly up, rather than have bankruptcy laws broken to create a facist company America would be better off. If GFM doesn't make cars people want, the can go the way of the stagecoach. If they can't, and they didn't, make cars affordable to consumers and still turn a profit, then liquidate them.

Don't worry blind lemming obamabots, the 8000 dollar check for chevy volts is in the works and the unions won't have to struggle with how to get healthcare anymore. shea-porter fixed that. all the unions had to do was contribute 200,000 and they bought her votes.

collapsed economy, socialist state and possibly civil war, here we go...
- Michael Layon, Derry

I know there are people who believe as sue does that the program should have been buy American only, I don't want to burst any bubbles but, most of the forein cars sold in America are made in America by Americans. The Honda Civic is made in Marysville, Ohio for one.
- Jim Wormwood, Elyria,OH

I would like one, just one, of the whiners who say that the cash-for-clunkers money is taxable to provide a verifiable link to a government website that states this. Jay, back it up with proof, please. I would think that, given the number of times this has been stated in various discussion comments, the the Union Leader would do some investigative research and prove or dispel this.

I again ask where was the outrage when the Bush administration was giving $25,000 tax credits to small businesses that purchased vehicles with GVWs over 6,000 lbs? Where?

More whining about impulse buying, other industries failing, etc, but why? My significant other and father both purchased new vehicles with cash for clunkers, but both would have had to anyway. Both took the minimum loan needed to get financing deals, and paid cash for the rest. When you are talking about driving off the lot with a new car for 12.5K (Ford Focus SES and Honda Fit Sport), out the door, a reasonable person who was going to purchase a vehicle in the near future, and who owned the vehicle outright, would have made the same decision. The reason the big three have lost their top rankings if due to their actions. Foreign auto makers listened to the customer and improved. American manufacturers built product and marketed demand. Get over it. My next truck will be a Mahindra pickup, once they come into the U.S. 2.2 liter diesel, 30 mpg, 1.38 ton cargo capacity, and seven foot bed. Let's see an American manufacturer offer a diesel in a small pickup.

Sue, do some research and get off the American car bandwagon. First, it makes no sense for a person to spend their hard earned money on anything that will fall apart or not perform as is should just because it is American made. Planned obsolescence only works in the manufacturer's favor. Plus, as has been stated numerous times before, many 'foreign' cars have more content than American vehicles. Do you complain when the U.S. government buys military hardware from the likes of BAE Systems, Kollsman, Elbit, or many of the myriad other foreign owned suppliers of defense articles? I'll bet not, as you probably don't know who owns who. Take a look at the ownership of many suppliers of defense articles, and whine about that.

Ed, future generations will be paying more for the war effort than for this. Why was no war tax instituted by the Bush administration as was done during WWII? The way to pay for Iraq and Afghanistan is with taxes now, not with Chinese held debt. Where were the complaints about that?
- Texter, Newfields

And as Paul Harvey used to say, "and now for the rest of the story." Hope EVERYONE read the "fine print," that states anyone who received the rebate in the Cash-for-Clunkers program will pay taxes on the rebate as normal income. What a kicker. It's taxpayer money to begin with, and then they have to pay taxes on it when they take advantage of the program. I'm waiting to see how many are tagged for paying taxes on it when (maybe if) the fed government doesn't reimburse the dealers and the car buyers are stuck with that bill, too!
- R, Raymond

Come on Bill get your head out of you know where. We and our kids will be paying for this for a long time. This country was built on a fair business principal. If you make a good product people will buy it, and if you run a smart business you will survive economic downturns. How is it smart to bailout companies who for years still don't have a clue and who through their greed never saw the light at the end of their tunnel. What Bill do you want to bailout next? The Airlines, Railroad, or how about the military contractors...the list is long. Pick one I have plenty of tax money left to let this administration burn. STOP the insanity!
- John, Beford

Great...there were more people in NH than in any other state in the nation asking for free* government handouts. So regarding this free* money...as I've asked with every other Obama "hey I have a great idea" expense...who do you think is going to pay for it?

It's funny. When a republican puts forth a bad idea that costs us money, the democrats and media call it out for years on end and blame that republican for every problem under the sun. Then a democrat comes along and puts forth 10 worse ideas that cost even MORE money, accomplish little to nothing, and he's considered a god. But hey, that democrat is telling you that it's okay to rely on the government to fix everything and put the burden on the next 3 generations...so what, right? As long as we get our free* whatever, who cares what the next three generations have to deal with. Not our problem. Instant gratification at the price of individual liberty...sure, sounds fair. Do you hear that humming sound? It's the sound of the founding fathers all collectively spinning in their graves at the same rate of speed while Obama and the other anti-American individuals in Congress shred the Constitution. I think it was a democrat who once said "ask not what you can do for others, but what your country can do for you." He died a couple days ago. He had a brother once though who thought a little differently than he...that you should "ask not what your country can do for you." He was a democrat too, but that was before his party was hijacked by socialist thugs. Just as well, his notion would not have computed with the mentally deranged liberal mindset of today...the "we're grown adults but we need to be coddled and cared for because we don't know how to do it ourselves and don't want to try" mentality of the modern day liberal. It's got a short name. It's called "rot." I have a headache thinking about all of this and where it's leading. I need to go see my doctor. Fortunately I don't have to wait in line for 6 months since we don't yet have government run health care. Praise God for that.
- Mike, Temple

Jay, it was a rebate, not income. Sue, many Japanese cars are made in the US by American workers in American plants. Toyota Tundra is made entirely in Texas and was designed here, and the Ford Focus is only 30% American-made. (See: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/119995/article.html. This kind of fact is easy to find). People opened up their wallets and took loans because of this program, which is the only way the economy will start growing again, so that was a good thing. Car dealers and their employees got a last inning reprieve from almost certain disaster and will live to fight another day, so that was a good thing. (Ed, these are your neighbors, not fat cats in foreign countries). The program increased the national debt, which is never a good thing but is an unfortunate consequence of the government having to do something to address eight years of disastrous mismanagement (GOP and Democrat) of of the economy. Consider the alternative of more dealers going out of business, more dealer employee layoffs and no new consumer spending. That makes the program a good thing. This was a government program that largely worked - most especially in the Live Free or Die state! Come on folks. Day after day, so much hot air and griping on these pages, so little grasp of the facts, no alternative ideas to address the mess the previous administration left behind. There is something un-American about people offering a knee-jerk gripe in response to every single thing that the current government does to try to get us out of the worst mess since the Great Depression. How about offering some new ideas instead of grousing for a change?
- Skip M, Ossipee

@jay in manchester....
Cars for Clunker Cash is not taxable. Says so in big letters on the Cars.gov website under FAQ. Stop spreading garbage info....
- Linda, Goffstown

I have a simple question....Was this money really taxable...This keeps coming up and I cant find anything in the laws or rules about it that speaks factually about it.
Reference anyone?
- John, Manchester

So the Government spread tax dollars from one group to another, and can now tax both the recipients of the CFC rebates and the dealers on the "income", and all those people have to pay taxes to the Town and State to register their new cars, and their insurance rates go up because now they've got a lien on their car, which they probably didn't have before when they were, responsibly, driving a car they could afford. All so we could destroy perfectly functional, inexpensive cars. Good plan.
- Tom, Keene

So we helped the Japanese and other foreign auto makers with this. It should have been for American cars made by Americans for Americans.
- sue, NH

per capita? not all people did this, only a certain few benefited from this program. the rest of the tax payers get nothing.
- john, hooksett

You guys are such hypocrites ... had the Republicans come up with a plan like this you'd have called it innovative economics to save the auto industry.
Was it a quick fix? Sure. but the industry NEEDED a quick fix or it was going to go belly up.
The unions need to get reigned in but without this plan, tens of thousands of jobs would have been lost. How would THAT have helped the economy.
Layoffs were avoided and, more to the point, New Hampshire dealerships got a much needed infusion of cash to stay solvent.
Prior to this plan, dealerships were closing right and left because of the recession. This saves several more from closing their doors.
Show some class and give credit where credit is due.
- Bill, Derry

Yeah, such a great deal. I'm sure our as yet unborn children and grandchildren will be happy to pay back the $2.88 Billion back (plus interest on that part of the National Debt) in their future taxes to help you materialistic, irresponsible, spoiled rotten prideful brats drive new cars and improve 9.2mpg today. I am just as sure those poor kids will be happy to help bail out you greedy automobile dealers milking this now, and especially the Japanese and Korean fat cat executives laughing the most thanks to this socialist Obama-Care program.
- Ed Holdgate, Sandown, NH

So people who weren't going to buy a new car, now did and have a loan.

People who were thinking of buying,took quick advantage of it, auto companies will have a spike, and then see sales plummet.

People who may have bought on an impulse, will now no longer buy other things they would have, causing other industries to faultier.

Either way all this did was to again help transfer wealth into the arms of the auto unions which destroyed the auto industry in the first place.

Now, also I wonder how many of the people who received this 'cash for clunkers' know that this money is taxable and will have to pay taxes on it?
- Jay, Manchester