AJCongress Welcomes IRS Decision to Provide Tax Deduction for Purchase of Hybrid-Electric Vehicles, as Means to Cut Consumption of Middle Eastern Oil

NEW YORK, June 3 -- The American Jewish Congress today congratulated IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossetti following the agency's decision to provide a tax deduction of up to $2,000 for purchase of hybrid-electric vehicles. These vehicles get far superior miles per gallon -- close to 60 in some cases -- than comparable cars powered by gasoline or diesel engines.

AJCongress has called for this incentive as a means to encourage sales of the hybrids and thus to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, particularly energy from the Middle East.

In a letter to Rossetti, Jack Halpern, Chair of the AJCongress Energy Task Force, declared, "Given that much of the foreign oil comes from nations whose foreign policy objectives do not coincide with those of the United States -- for example, through their support for (or at least tacit encouragement) of terrorism against Israel -- development of energy independence must be a primary objective of U.S. policy. The IRS decision to institute the tax incentive is an important step in this direction."

Halpern asked the IRS Commissioner to extend the incentive beyond its expiration date at the close of 2003 "so that as U.S. manufacturers begin producing their models, these cars would qualify as well as those currently on the market."