this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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Why aren’t climate-damaging subsidies on the chopping block? (livestock and cars) (slrpnk.net)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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Asking the gov to proactively shrink or limit animal products is a non-starter because there are just too many (voting) consumers who would be outraged. It would be political suicide. Same for cars. Forcing car owners out of cars would be political suicide as well.

But what I find baffling is there seems to be no chatter about the fact that the US gov gives (millions?) in subsidies to livestock farmers. And Europe gives tax breaks for “commercial” cars (mischaracterized personal cars). If the gov were to end the subsidies, there could be no reasonable complaint that the gov is interfering. Because in fact the gov would be ending their intervention.

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[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

IIRC, the only way to get a tax break for owning a car in the US is if you do a hack of not driving straight to work but you stop somewhere for coffee then drive to work. Something about multiple stops being a loophole. But is that loophole being abused on a notable scale?

There’s also a loophole in the US where if you rent a car instead of buy one, there are some shenanigans that enable a simple commuter to write it off. But again, I don’t think that’s being abused on a large scale.

Europe is quite loose with the car write-offs. The car just has to be company-owned and from there it can be used simply for commuting to and from an office. So you have a phenomenon where a majority of cars are company cars being used for personal errands.

[–] neanderthal@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You don't get a tax break for personal vehicles. If you use it for business purposes for a business you operate (i.e. own), you can claim it as a business expense.

Cars are subsided by our zoning, minimum parking requirements, and car centric transport infrastructure.

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Where are you talking about? Your first paragraph sounds like Europe, but your second paragraph sounds like the US.

[–] neanderthal@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's how it is in the US?

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Since you said “car centric transport infrastructure”, and zoning, that really sounded like the US. The US has some really fucked up zoning that forces commercial buildings to be separated from residential zones, which forced the norm of driving cars to work. Europe allows homes and businesses to intermingle. In fact, it’s common for a ground floor shop to have residential dwellings on the floors above it.