2013 Budget Would Increase Alternative-Powertrain Tax Credit to $10,000 The budget introduced Monday by President Obama for the 2013 fiscal year included a provision (PDF) of particular interest to sellers and potential buyers of alternative-powertrain vehicles. If the provision were preserved, it would increase the current maximum federal income tax credit for certain plug-in vehicles from $7,500 to as much as $10,000. The credit would no longer be claimed by the consumer, but by the vehicle's seller or financer, who could opt to give buyers a break at the time of sale by reducing the list price. The proposed credit would have a maximum value of $10,000 through 2016, after which time the maximum would fall in $2,500 increments to $7,500 for vehicles entering service in 2017, $5,000 in 2018 and $2,500 in 2019. The credit, which would end Jan. 1, 2020, could be applied to a wider group of vehicles than are currently eligible, including natural gas cars and some hybrids. Eligible vehicles, however, would have to operate "primarily on an alternative to petroleum," according to the proposal. They would also have to meet undisclosed miles per gallon equivalent, or m.p.g.e., targets. The current tax credit begins to phase out after manufacturers sell 200,000 advanced-powertrain vehicles, but the proposed credit contains no such limit. Speaking of the credits Monday at a news conference, Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy, noted that the credits were "technology neutral," in a seeming rebuttal to critics who argued that the administration favored E.V."s over other advanced mobility technologies. "We don't pick between natural gas and electric vehicles," he said. We'll let the market determine that and give consumers the incentive to buy these cars. The provision would also cap the credit at $7,500 on vehicles with a manufacturer's suggested retail price above $45,000. The budget proposal includes a tax credit of up to $25,000 for alternative-fuel trucks weighing between 14,000 and 26,000 pounds, and credit of up to $40,000 for those weighing more than 26,000 pounds. That credit, halved in the 2018 calendar year, would apply to trucks sold after Dec. 31, 2012, and before Jan. 1, 2019. Bryan Hansel, chairman and chief executive of the electric truck maker Smith Electric Vehicles, said such a credit would improve the appeal of its products. "This tax credit would likely take two years off the return on investment for vehicles such as ours, and that would dramatically help with the adoption rate," he said in a telephone interview.