Schumer’s Plan to Make Bike-Share Commuting Tax-Exempt, Too

The New York senator wants to include programs like Citi Bike in federal transportation benefits.

Senator Charles Schumer enjoys an apple on a pedestrian island by Prospect Park. Credit: Planetgordon.com on Flickr

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New York’s senior senator reports that he’s on the cusp of expanding the tax-exempt commuting options employers can to include Citi Bike and other-bike share programs:

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that he was launching a push to include a tax exclusion for those who use Citi Bike and other bike share programs for commuting purposes in a must-pass Senate tax bill, set to be debated this week.  If, as expected, the amendment is included and the bill is passed in to law, employees will be able to exclude $20 a month from their income for income tax purposes, if they have an employer-provided Citi Bike membership.  This program already exists for mass transit benefits, the cost of parking a car at work, and the cost of storing or buying a bike you ride to work.  Last year, the IRS ruled that programs like Citi Bike were not covered, and Schumer’s legislation will fix that.

There are a few things to note here.

The first is, as the above mentions, this is the broadening of the existing federal Transportation Fringe Benefits to formally treat bike share as a valid commuting option.

Another is that Schumer here calls bike-sharing programs “an efficient, healthy, and clean form of mass transportation,” adding a bit of senatorial weight to the idea that these programs, even if privately funded, are serving as a piece of public infrastructure. (Thanks to our Cassie Owens for catching that.)

Then there is that Schumer, a man not unaware of the news cycle, points out, the plan could have the added bonus helping to shore up the reportedly financially-challenged Citi Bike program.

One last note: Schumer is calling for $240 a year in tax breaks which, frankly, tripped this Brooklynite up, given that Citi Bike’s annual membership is $95. But one then remembers that there is life outside New York City, and that other bike-share programs can cost more.

This post has been updated.

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Nancy Scola is a Washington, DC-based journalist whose work tends to focus on the intersections of technology, politics, and public policy. Shortly after returning from Havana she started as a tech reporter at POLITICO.

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