30% TAX CREDIT for Electric Bikes? 5 Things You Need To Know - YouTube

There are 5 things I think you  should know about the upcoming  

30% federal tax credit that  applies towards electric bikes.

Yes, this is perfect timing US Air Force, US Air  Force. We don't have all of the information yet.  

Everything we have is based on this press  release here, it's only two pages. I can  

read you the first paragraph. It says “Today,  Congressman Jimmy Panetta and Congressional  

Black Caucus Chairman Earl Blumenauer introduced  the electric bicycle incentive kickstart for  

the environment. That stands for ebike. Clever.  The act encourages the use of electric bicycles  

or ebikes through a consumer tax credit due to the  distance, speed and ease by which they can travel.

That was easy!

Ebikes will help replace vehicle trips and  commutes and reduce carbon emissions. Of course,  

there's the big push that we'll probably  get this through is the carbon emissions.  

And then this giant paragraph right here  is basically a link to a study about that.

The rest of the press release  are basically quotes from  

bicycle organizations around the country that  support the 30% tax credit. There's not a lot  

of meat or substance to this press release,  but I'm going to share what we do know and  

a little bit of speculation about whether or  not I think this is going to actually happen.

Number one. And I think the most important thing  to understand is. What is a federal tax credit?  

If you've never used one, then it may be a little  bit confusing. Does that mean you actually get 30%  

off the cost of the bike when you purchase  it? No. So this is something that you need  

to be aware of. How do you actually apply  or take advantage of this? If it goes into  

effect, now I have actually purchased and  leased some electric vehicles and there are  

federal tax credits. So I'm familiar with  how the process works for those. I'm going  

to assume this is going to be very similar.  Let's say you have a bicycle that costs $1,500.

You're going to get 30% as a tax credit. That  means that you're going to have to pay the full  

retail price of the bike. When you buy it.  However, when you go to file your taxes,  

you can basically claim there'll be some  new form probably to fill out. This says  

I bought an electric bike.  Here's what the value was.

We'll get a deduction or a credit when you file  your taxes. So in other words, if you're getting  

a tax refund for the year, then you're going to  get more of a refund because of the electric bike.  

If you are having to pay taxes, then  you'll get a little bit of that bill  

knocked off. So you don't get  the advantage of a tax credit  

right up front when you buy a bike, but you  do get the advantage when you file your taxes.

So I am interested to see if this  increases bike sales in December.  

If we have people who are trying to reduce  their taxes and are considering an ebike and  

that might push them over the edge  right before the end of the year.

Number two, there is a limit to the maximum amount  of money you can get back. And that is $1,500,  

which is quite a lot. So it's 30% or $1,500.  Of course I had to do a little bit of math and  

figure out what then is the best absolute  bang for the buck on an electric bike.

Now, if you invest in a 24 piece set, I'm going  to throw in a little gift. So what's the gift?

Assuming this tax credit is available.  So if you were to buy a $5,000 bicycle,  

the math comes out to where you would  be able to get the full $1,500 credit.

You would basically cut the cost of that bike  after you file your taxes down to $3,500. That  

is in my opinion, a steal if that works out. So  that is the best bang for your buck is a $5,000  

ebike. And taking full advantage of  the tax credit. And number three,  

there is an upper limit. As well, basically,  if you're going to spend this much money,  

then maybe you just don't need a tax credit.

And that is the upper limit is proposed  to be $8,000. So if you're going to buy a  

stealth bomber, that's $10,000, that's  not going to apply because it is too much  

money. Since I mentioned the stealth  bike and that'd be over the limit,  

there has been some mentioned that it would  apply to bikes that are 750 Watts or less.

That makes perfect sense because  

federally, the laws all pertained to  electric bicycles to say, 750 Watts.

Number four. There is a little bit of  vague wording that says this will apply  

for lower income. It doesn't say what  that is or what it means. So there may  

be some sort of income cap where  you cannot take advantage of this.

The only downside I see to that  is personally, I think 90% to 95%  

of my customers are either retired or  semi retired. Are they going to be able  

to take advantage of this? Especially,  If there's an income limit? I don't know,  

but we'll have to wait and see what's actually  in the bill because we don't have that text yet.

And finally, number five, what  does that actually going to do to  

the market of electric bikes? There's already  a shortage. We already have trouble getting  

parts and pieces. So if there is a tax  incentive to buy, is that going to make  

more people buy electric bikes? And I'm  going to say, Yes, that makes perfect sense.

There are a bunch of organizations that  already support this proposed bill before the  

press release came out. So obviously  there's been a lot of discussion about it  

behind the scenes. I did reach out  to by phone. I tried to call quite  

a few of those organizations on the  list that had phone numbers listed.

Unfortunately, none of them picked up,  so I couldn't get any more details on it.

However, I don't think it's a coincidence that  just a couple of weeks ago, Rad Power took  

$150 million in investment money. It just seems  a little odd to me that a bunch of money was  

dumped into a big ebike company. literally  days before a proposed federal tax credit  

is released. Maybe this wasn't the entire  reason for that, but it probably was a tidbit.

Do I think this is going to happen? Yes.

Do I have any idea when it's  going to happen? Absolutely not.

If you're going to buy an ebike, I  would say the same thing. Don’t wait. 

I wouldn't wait because demand  is high. Inventory is low  

and it's still going to be challenging over  the next year or so. And this is only going  

to make it more difficult. I've seen a  few comments from people that are saying,  

why are we introducing a 30% tax credit on  electric bicycles when they primarily come from  

China? That doesn't make sense. It's like  we're subsidizing Chinese manufacturing.

There are a lot of different opinions on whether  this is good or bad overall. The only thing I can  

say in regards to that is that we are slowly  working on and developing more US products.

USA! USA All the Way!

This is something that has been requested  a lot by email and in my channel,  

it's not available yet. But many of you can  probably guess what this is going to be for.  

We are ramping up production on this. We  make this here in house at Bolton Ebikes.  

And once we have a supply built up,  these will be available for sale.

So more on that soon, we are finally stocking The  Handlebar Jack. I did a review on this product  

quite some time ago. There is a new updated  version plan on doing a separate video on this to  

give you all of the updates, but this is another  product that is made in the USA. And finally,  

I brought up one of the WartHog bikes, because  these are on the water and they're almost here  

to the US. If you're still in the market for an  electric bike, then make sure to go watch my other  

video, 10 Things To Know Before Buying An Ebike,  because all of that information still applies.