"In New Jersey, the automotive sector is by far the biggest producer of greenhouse gases."
Kirk Moore -
APP - February 8, 2010
Incentives are nice but can they ever establish a lasting trend? --Ed.
TRENTON Legislation that would create a sales tax exemption for efficient hybrid cars had its first hearing before a Senate committee Monday, as advocates for the automobile industry and environmental groups urged the bill be widened to include the new generation of high-efficiency diesels.
Bill S-756 would waive sales tax on hybrids that get at least 35 mpg, up to $40,000 of the purchase price, said sponsor Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth. The bill would also exempt high-efficiency major household appliances and apply for just two years it's also designed in part as an economic stimulus measure, Beck told colleagues on the state Senate Environment and Energy Committee.
Industry spokesmen liked that aspect. Automobile dealerships employ about 34,000 people in New Jersey, and that's down by an estimated 7,500 to 8,000 jobs shed in the last 30 months, according to the New Jersey Council of Automobile Retailers. One shortcoming seen by NJCAR and car manufacturers: favoring hybrids with a tax break could disadvantage turbodiesel technology, a cleaner-burning and high-efficiency technology now being marketed in the United States by German carmakers Audi and Volkswagen.
The bill was first drafted more than a year ago, and "our perception was that diesel was not environmentally friendly," said Beck, who initially proposed the sales tax waiver as part of a 10-bill package with her running mates for the state Assembly. But Scot Mackey, a lobbyist who spoke on behalf of carmakers, said the last five years have...
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