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SATURDAY December 6, 2003 - Subscribe - Contact Us Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels November 19, 2003 Deductions for SUVs draining U.S. Treasury For Americans enamored of gasoline-swilling urban-assault vehicles, the rush is on: Earlier this year, your Congress and ours decided it would be nice to allow small-business owners, doctors, lawyers, real-estate folks and others to deduct as much as $100,000 from their taxable income for the purchase of big vehicles. It was part of ongoing legislative intent to encourage business-equipment purchases - including step-vans and other work trucks. For a couple of decades, vehicles heavier than 3 tons have been given special tax treatment. Until now, however, the deduction limit had been $25,000; barely enough to buy a set of gleaming wheels and other add-ons to some of the sport-utility juggernauts seen crowding the centerline on Santa Fe streets. Now the maximum deduction has been quadrupled. Among the effects: The actual price of those vehicles isn't much more than for a medium-level sedan. ... Taxpayer-subsidized SUVs might have short-range benefits for the economy. Yet while the loophole remains open, experts figure the federal treasury stands to lose $1.3 billion during the course of a decade. But what the heck; we'd just spend the money on schools or health care or something. ... But again, what the heck: The fuel shortages of the 1970s never happened; the tanks beneath the gas stations are bottomless, and America's energy-wasting way of life will never end. - The Santa Fe New Mexican Commandments were not legally displayed The U.S. Supreme Court last week issued a welcome reminder on the law regarding separation of church and state when it refused to hear an appeal from an Alabama judge who thinks he should be able to place a 2 1/2-ton monument to the Ten Commandments at the entrance to his courthouse. The decision not to hear the appeal of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is tantamount to saying the court has already decided this issue. To wit: The government may not take any action that would promote the beliefs of one religion over any others. To do so is to ignore the rights of those who hold different beliefs. That's why courts in Alabama, including Moore's own, ordered the monument removed. The avid supporters of Moore and the Ten Commandments continue to ignore the clarity of the law as it endeavors to protect the nation's diverse religious, or nonreligious, beliefs. If the monument were just one of several symbols of religious beliefs or famous figures who contributed to American law, it would be a different story. Such historical public displays have long been accepted as legal, as have some ceremonial references to God in public life. But Moore's insistence on displaying only the Ten Commandments in the courthouse lobby bespeaks a religious, not historical, intent. The court reminds that it is unconstitutional. - The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Road Cams