Texas continues the shenanigans

[Subhuman]

"Vehicles purchased or leased directly from the manufacturer or from an out-of-state dealer or leasing company will not be eligible. "

There is a decent argument that this requirement violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The challenge will be to figure out how to finance the litigation.

The rebate program in Illinois has the same verbiage. The hiccup here is that it is not possible to buy a tesla in Texas therefore making meeting the requirement impossible. Interstate commerce law is geared for not being able to purchase a product from another state not wether you are able to receive a state's incentive. If that was the case you could force every state to offer a rebate because of the handful of states that do offer incentives.

 

[MartinAustin]

Buyers of expensive cars don't need tax breaks that much - but the tax break is the same no matter what the cost of the car, so as a percentage of the cost of the car, the tax break is much bigger on the Nissan Leaf than it is on the BMW i8. So... it's OK

That said, I'm a bit annoyed that (as a Texas resident) my taxes are being used to give tax breaks to buyers of BMW i8's. But Tesla buyers - buyers of American cars - are are not getting the tax break.

Let us not worry too much about this. The dealer monopoly will eventually be history, as will tax breaks on electric cars - once most cars are electric!

 

[dalalsid]

The rebate program in Illinois has the same verbiage. The hiccup here is that it is not possible to buy a tesla in Texas therefore making meeting the requirement impossible. Interstate commerce law is geared for not being able to purchase a product from another state not wether you are able to receive a state's incentive. If that was the case you could force every state to offer a rebate because of the handful of states that do offer incentives.

AFAIK you can lease a Tesla in TX.