Reducing Energy Use Through Retrofitting Older Vehicles Act (RETRO)
There is a horrific problem, not only in the United States, but throughout the entire world. It involves pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels from internal combustion engines. We ask Congress to reinstate the tax credit which expired on December 31, 2011 for the conversion of internal combustion engines to alternative fuel sources, be they electric, hybrid, LNG, CNG, propane, etc. The $4,000.00 tax credit expired and with that Congress has turned its back on the true culprit of auto emission pollutants. There are tens of millions of internal combustion vehicles on the roads each day spewing pollutants into the air. Congress and the prior and current Administration chose to resolve this problem by offering tax credits to purchasers of new alternative fuel vehicles. The response by the public was predicted by everyone but politicians ? almost zero. Sure, people with high incomes took advantage and claimed the tax credit offered. But, where the problem is truly omnipresent, only a few thousand people took care of the problem converting their internal combustion vehicles to alternative fuel vehicles. So, the obvious result was more and more pollution. And, as people continue to buy more vehicles, they are choosing to buy internal combustion vehicles and hybrids rather than alternative fuel vehicles. And, with the tax credit of up to $4,000.00 that expired on December 31, 2011, there is no incentive for current owners to convert their existing vehicles into non-pollutant sources.
Today we need people with vision. We implore you to extend the $4,000.00 tax credit for conversions of existing vehicles to alternative fuel sources. We even ask you to be more aggressive and ask for a 30% tax credit rather than 10% or base the credit on weight. Hopefully this extended or extra credit will influence and stimulate people to take the conversion step. We need to confront the issue today because we are exacerbating the problem each additional day.
Today we need people with vision. We implore you to extend the $4,000.00 tax credit for conversions of existing vehicles to alternative fuel sources. We even ask you to be more aggressive and ask for a 30% tax credit rather than 10% or base the credit on weight. Hopefully this extended or extra credit will influence and stimulate people to take the conversion step. We need to confront the issue today because we are exacerbating the problem each additional day.
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