WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins introduced legislation, the Bicycle Commuters Benefit Act of 2006, to give bicycle commuters the same advantages and benefits as those commuters who use public transit.
“With the price of gas hitting $3 a gallon in Maine and across this country, we need to be doing everything in our power to try to move people away from our dependence on oil. We believe our legislation providing our nation’s bicycle commuters with the same incentives as those commuters who rely on mass transit is a small step toward that worthy goal,” said Snowe and Collins in a joint statement.
Bicycle Commuters Benefit Act of 2006 extends the fringe benefit that employers can offer their employees for commuting by public transit, to those who ride their bicycles to and from their jobs. The legislation amends the tax code so that public and private employers can offer their employees a monthly benefit payment that will help them cover the costs of riding their bikes, instead of driving and parking their cars where they work. It also provides employers the flexibility to set their own level of benefit payment up to a specified cap amount. That way, employers and their employees can decide how much of an incentive they need to stop driving and start riding their bikes. Employers can deduct the cost of their benefit payments from the income taxes that they pay to the federal government and, in turn, employees will receive anywhere from $40 - $100 per month to help them pay for the costs of riding their bikes.
According to recent Census reports, more than 500,000 people throughout the United States commute to work by bicycle.
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