Exactly. This is no different than what Aereo did. Go through some contorsions to fit the law, while still giving the customer what they want. Make a lease look like a purchase to get tax credits.
Someone told me Nissan is doing the same thing with the Leaf right now. They are offering dirt cheap leases because the dealership is taking the tax-credit to subsidize the cost. Tesla is just branding it differently.
I think this is still well within the spirit of the tax laws. The point of the tax credit is to get people to use green technology and this is doing just that.
I'm guessing one of the main concerns is avoiding the scenario where a bunch of people pass around a single car, and each claims a huge tax credit while not helping the environment (as much).
The current rule is that only the first sale or lease of a car generates a tax credit; in the case of a lease, the leasing company takes the credit (see http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxevb.shtml , under "Requirements").
Somewhere between tax fraud and the current rule are some legitimate scenarios we probably do want to encourage (like buying a few-year-old electric vehicle instead of a new one, or the same electric vehicle getting leased out multiple times), but these scenarios are:
1) Harder to monitor
2) Too long-term to be compatible with the short-term nature of these tax cuts, and government budgeting in general.
What's wrong with giving the tax credit to the leasing company? That just allows them to price it lower. (Similarly, it ideally doesn't make a difference whether you apply sales tax to consumers or sellers. The equilibrium will adjust so that the net money paid/acquired by each will be the same.)
1) It shows consumers that their gov't is supporting this. That's good for citizens to be aware of, regardless of whether you think this credit is a good or bad thing.
2) Ideally, it shouldn't matter but I don't trust car salesman to give consumers the best part of any deal. Consumers are generally not equal negotiators and I suspect sales people will pocket more of the tax incentive.
They can say the car is discounted to include the incentive but they may not apply the entire incentive to the discount. The more complicated a deal is, the less likely a consumer is going to get the better end of that deal.
That may be fine if you're favoring a completely free market but I prefer to side with consumers and favor protection when possible.
Oh I didn't catch that part. You structure a purchase like a lease because you can only get the tax credit on a purchase. The reasoning makes a little bit more sense now.
