Editorial: All aboard for incentives

Monday, June 19, 2006 | 7:02 a.m.

As part of the energy bill signed last year by President Bush, the federal government since Jan. 1 has been offering tax credits to those who buy or lease hybrid cars. The incentives come with limits and most will expire next year, but nevertheless they are inspiring many people to make the leap to a more fuel-efficient ride.

Now many businesses are following with their own incentives. Bank of America, for example, is offering 21,000 employees in the congested cities of Boston and Los Angeles, as well as those at its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., $3,000 in cash if they buy a hybrid. The company will decide in the fall whether to expand the incentive to all 202,000 of its employees.

Timberland Co., a shoe and clothing maker in New Hampshire, also is offering the $3,000 incentive to its employees, and it is sweetening the pot by setting aside reserved parking spaces for its workers who drive hybrids. Google is offering its employees $5,000 to buy and $2,500 to lease any vehicle that gets at least 45 miles per gallon.

Cities and states are joining in, too. New Haven, Conn., offers free parking at meters for residents who drive hybrids. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is pushing a bill to offer a $2,000 state tax credit toward the cost of a hybrid.

We hope businesses and governments all over the country join the trend. It would speed the arrival of the day when our skies are cleaner and our foreign oil imports are lower.