I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 100 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for the 
State and local sales taxes paid on the purchase of an automobile. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 6, 2009 
Mr. DREIER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
a credit for the State and local sales taxes paid on 
the purchase of an automobile. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commonsense Auto 
Recovery Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR SALES TAX ON PURCHASE OF AUTO-
MOBILE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
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1986 is amended by inserting after section 30D the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 30E. SALES TAX ON PURCHASE OF AUTOMOBILE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a qualified tax-
payer, there shall be allowed against the tax imposed by 
this chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to the 
qualified State and local automobile sales taxes paid by 
the taxpayer with respect to the purchase of a qualified 
vehicle in such taxable year. 
‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—For purposes of subsection (a), 
the purchase price taken into account for purposes of de-
termining qualified State and local automobile sales taxes 
shall not exceed $50,000. 
‘‘(c) QUALIFIED STATE AND LOCAL AUTOMOBILE 
SALES TAXES.—For purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified State 
and local automobile sales taxes’ means any general 
sales tax in effect on January 1, 2009, imposed on 
the purchase of a qualified vehicle. 
‘‘(2) GENERAL SALES TAX.—The term ‘general 
sales tax’ has the meaning given such term by sec-
tion 164(b)(5), determined without regard to sub-
paragraph (F) thereof. 
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‘‘(3) QUALIFIED VEHICLE.—The term ‘qualified 
vehicle’ means a motor vehicle (as defined in section 
30(c)(2)) which does not have more than 2 axles. 
‘‘(d) QUALIFIED TAXPAYER.—For purposes of this 
section— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified tax-
payer’ means— 
‘‘(A) an individual, and 
‘‘(B) a person who employed an average of 
less than 50 employees on business days during 
the taxable year. 
‘‘(2) CONTROLLED GROUPS.—For purposes of 
paragraph (1)(B), all persons treated as a single em-
ployer under subsection (b), (c), (m), or (o) of sec-
tion 414 shall be treated as a single employer. 
‘‘(e) NO DOUBLE BENEFIT.—The amount of the 
credit allowed under subsection (a) with respect to any 
vehicle shall be reduced by the amount of the deduction 
allowed under section 164 for such vehicle for the taxable 
year. 
‘‘(f) ELECTION TO NOT TAKE CREDIT.—No credit 
shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any vehicle if the 
taxpayer elects not to have this section apply to such vehi-
cle. 
‘‘(g) APPLICATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.— 
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‘‘(1) BUSINESS CREDIT TREATED AS PART OF 
GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT.—So much of the credit 
which would be allowed under subsection (a) for any 
taxable year (determined without regard to this sub-
section) that is attributable to property of a char-
acter subject to an allowance for depreciation shall 
be treated as a credit listed in section 38(b) for such 
taxable year (and not allowed under subsection (a)). 
‘‘(2) PERSONAL CREDIT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 
title, the credit allowed under subsection (a) for 
any taxable year (determined after application 
of paragraph (1)) shall be treated as a credit 
allowable under subpart A for such taxable 
year. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION BASED ON AMOUNT OF 
TAX.—In the case of a taxable year to which 
section 26(a)(2) does not apply, the credit al-
lowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year 
(determined after application of paragraph (1)) 
shall not exceed the excess of— 
‘‘(i) the sum of the regular tax liabil-
ity (as defined in section 26(b)) plus the 
tax imposed by section 55, over 
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