TaxCut tells me that I pay $1800 AMT and I am not getting the hybrid credit. It really sucks.

 

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you haven't spent it yet.

It'd be interesting to see a couple of things. 1) How many purchaser's, who can afford the HiHy and RXh, can actually take advantage of the credit. 2) How many can get the credit regardless of which hybrid was purchased.

 

The weird thing about the tax credit form is that they don't ask for the VIN. Just the make, model and year. It seems to me that many fraudulent returns can be filed, and people will cash the refunds before the feds figure it out. And this will make us legitimate buyers more likely to be audited.

 

While they do not ask for the VIN, they do ask for the Date Placed in Service. This is much more important in determining the credit. I don't think the amount of tax revenue lost on the credit will really matter enough to hit people with audits. The more creative way to get the money back will be if (when) a recapture of the credit is put in place for those who didn't keep the vehicle for 3 years.
Then again, every extra car on the road (Hybrid or not) means more consumption of resources (read as more revenue). So either way, there's still an increase in revenue.

 

You need to write your Congressman - I believe the calcs (cost basis) for the AMT hasn't been changed since it was initiated (1970's ?). I got the full credit - but I don't have a lot of "excessive" deductions - which the AMT is based against.