Volt buyers make $175k plus a year? And don't need the tax credit? Poll

[Kevin 2012 Volt]

Pennsylvania Congressman Kelly says the average annual income of a Volt buyer is $175,000 and they don't need a tax credit.

I was curious if this was true or not? Average annual income of a Volt buyer is $175k ???
Where do they get this info?
I will be honest, I make alittle over $80k and I bought a red 2012 Volt #5128. I special ordered it in July and picked it up October 19th 2011 in Oklahoma. The bank and I bought my Volt, I did not lease it.

If it wasn't for the fed and state tax credit I would still be driving my $80 a week in fuel Tahoe!!!!

side note, I drive my Volt like its stolen and enjoy the heck out of this INCREDIBLE CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to get one of those "NO FEAR" bumper stickers now!

[AySz88]

I don't think most people that make $175k+ would be comfortable revealing it. But I wouldn't be surprised if much of that $175k "average" was due to outliers, like a single billionaire or a group of multi-millionaires (perhaps, Jay Leno, GM's CEO, and a few executives?).

I'm much more curious about median income rather than mean.

[tboult]

Yep, in this case mean is probably misleading and not a robust estimator.
But the data is from an some earlier articles
http://autos.aol.com/article/why-the...ealthy-buyers/

[Zod]

Yes, mean (average) is a relatively meaningless statistic in this case given the extreme outliers that make the distribution of owners incomes far from Normal (ie. Gaussian). The "Median" is what should be looked at.

I do think it's unfair that the $7500 Fed Tax Credit is not refundable (and not at time of purchase), because that favors those who actually still have $7500 of tax liability after all other deductions. I barely meet that criteria, but only because i'm married (filing jointly) and have no real deductions (no mortgage, no kids, etc). If I had a house or a kid, I wouldn't be able to take full advantage of it.

Since the Tax Credit is for the first 200,000 vehicles, it costs the Fed the same amount no matter who buys the car (i.e. 200,000 * $7500 = $1.5 Billion). I'm all in favor for the tax credit, but not that it favors those who make more than $85k, depending on their other deductions/credits. I also wish it was at time-of-purchase, to help take some of the loan payment shock off the people who can just barely afford it (which I consider myself).

[yoyodyn]

I voted based on my salary, but really household income is more than double that since my wife makes a little more than I do.

[Zod]

For example of how bad taking the average is:

If 10 Jay Leno types (assumed income of $50M) bought a Volt, the other ~5000 Volt owners average income would be $75,000.

Or if ONE Bill Gates type (assumed income of $1B) bought a Volt, all other Volt owners could make ZERO dollars and you'd still have an average income of ~$200,000!

[stephent]

Pennsylvania Congressman Kelly says the average annual income of a Volt buyer is $175,000 and they don't need a tax credit.

Republicans:
"taking away tax credits = raising taxes"
"raising taxes = unacceptable under any circumstance, we pledge allegiance to Grover Norquist"
"can't possibly raise taxes on the 1%, they are 'job creators'"

Now: people making $175k don't need a tax credit.

Hard to take them seriously when they can't even be consistent in their own twisted logic.

Personally, I do think it's unfair that someone who makes more money gets a bigger credit than one who makes less and doesn't qualify for the full $7500. Can't see why that logically makes any sense, people with lower incomes who saved up for a more expensive new green-tech car should be able to get the full break IMO, if you accept that govt should be promoting this stuff.

[Zod]

Republicans:
"taking away tax credits = raising taxes"
"raising taxes = unacceptable under any circumstance, we pledge allegiance to Grover Norquist"
"can't possibly raise taxes on the 1%, they are 'job creators'"

Now: people making $175k don't need a tax credit.

Hard to take them seriously when they can't even be consistent in their own twisted logic.

Kelly has no logic and is simply trying to tie the Volt and associated Tax Credit ship to Obama's leg (even though both were conceived under Bush) and then trying to sink the ship. Politicians stink.

I wish we could draft (smart) people to be politicians (perhaps even against their will), with the only requirement being they have no political ambition and thus no strong party ties.

[mike1]

I make much closer to the bottom of this poll than the top, and the $8200 cash rebate here was critical to my purchase decision. Our politicians tend to be every so slightly less partisan than yours though, and to my knowledge no one here has jumped on the anti-rebate EV hate bandwagon in any serious way.

[popsvolt]

I heard that less than intelligent comment on Fox Business. Too bad some politicians are so far out of contact with normal americans!