Though I do agree that the stars need to align to make this happen. The truth is that all of these incentive do stack on top of each other, it is also a lot easier to qualify for the Replace Your Ride program and accumulate GM rewards than one would think.
Let's take a family of four and look at what needs to be done to qualify for the Replace Your Ride program. To qualify for the maximum amount of $9,500 they will need to earn $53,663 or less (for each additional family member add around $9,135 up to 8 family members then it is reduced to $4,570) and need to reside within the jurisdiction of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. I am not real familiar with the San Joaquin Valley Vehicle Replacement program but I understand it works somewhat similar to that of the Replace Your Ride program.
Next, let's look at how a family of four could max out the GM rewards. Just buy your food with the GM card every week and the work is done for you. The cost of feeding a family of four according to usatoday.com is somewhere between $146 to $289. These are 2013 numbers so they are probably a little low so let's take $200 a week. At $200 a week we have a $10,400 expenditure for the year. See how easy that was? Add clothes, birthday presents, doctor bills and appliance or car repairs and for those that spend less than $200 a week on food they too are easily earning the required amount to max the old GM card out.
This example would be a family or four, a father, mother and two kids. The father is the sole provider and the mother is a stay at home mother raising her two kids. The father would have a job making a little over $25 a hour. So I looked at an article on careerbuilder to see what type of jobs pay $25 an hour and this what I came up with Loan Officer, Forensic Science Technician, Radiologic Technician and Criminal Investigator. I would thing these examples are probably examples of entry level or for the first couple years of that persons career. However, I have some examples and that's all that matters for this thread.
Now, let's look at taxes to see if the family could qualify to use the $7,500 Federal tax rebate. This is a tough one since the family is probably paying little or nothing in Federal taxes. The tax liability for the family in 2017 before standard deduction ($12,700) and personal exemptions ($4,050 * 4 =$16,200) would be $7,117. So including the standard deduction and personal exemptions their taxable income is dropped to $24,763 and their tax liability is now $2,782. So they won't be able to utilize the entire amount of the $7,500 Federal tax rebate. A family of ten gets closer to utilizing the Federal tax rebate with a tax liability of $6,019 after standard deduction and personal exemptions but still no cigar.
The only thing I can think of is if the family had an IRA they could convert the needed portion of the IRA to a Roth IRA and not have any negative tax consequences. I am sure others can think of other creative means to be able to utilize the entire $7,500 Federal tax rebate. However, if the family has no usable means to utilize the Federal tax rebate then Leasing the Volt may be a better idea. A free Lease would be much easier to qualify for as well. I may have to look in to that to see how to maximize a free Lease. I am not a CPA so this is all done in the name of fun with a lot of wishful thinking.
Let's take a family of four and look at what needs to be done to qualify for the Replace Your Ride program. To qualify for the maximum amount of $9,500 they will need to earn $53,663 or less (for each additional family member add around $9,135 up to 8 family members then it is reduced to $4,570) and need to reside within the jurisdiction of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. I am not real familiar with the San Joaquin Valley Vehicle Replacement program but I understand it works somewhat similar to that of the Replace Your Ride program.
Next, let's look at how a family of four could max out the GM rewards. Just buy your food with the GM card every week and the work is done for you. The cost of feeding a family of four according to usatoday.com is somewhere between $146 to $289. These are 2013 numbers so they are probably a little low so let's take $200 a week. At $200 a week we have a $10,400 expenditure for the year. See how easy that was? Add clothes, birthday presents, doctor bills and appliance or car repairs and for those that spend less than $200 a week on food they too are easily earning the required amount to max the old GM card out.
This example would be a family or four, a father, mother and two kids. The father is the sole provider and the mother is a stay at home mother raising her two kids. The father would have a job making a little over $25 a hour. So I looked at an article on careerbuilder to see what type of jobs pay $25 an hour and this what I came up with Loan Officer, Forensic Science Technician, Radiologic Technician and Criminal Investigator. I would thing these examples are probably examples of entry level or for the first couple years of that persons career. However, I have some examples and that's all that matters for this thread.
Now, let's look at taxes to see if the family could qualify to use the $7,500 Federal tax rebate. This is a tough one since the family is probably paying little or nothing in Federal taxes. The tax liability for the family in 2017 before standard deduction ($12,700) and personal exemptions ($4,050 * 4 =$16,200) would be $7,117. So including the standard deduction and personal exemptions their taxable income is dropped to $24,763 and their tax liability is now $2,782. So they won't be able to utilize the entire amount of the $7,500 Federal tax rebate. A family of ten gets closer to utilizing the Federal tax rebate with a tax liability of $6,019 after standard deduction and personal exemptions but still no cigar.
The only thing I can think of is if the family had an IRA they could convert the needed portion of the IRA to a Roth IRA and not have any negative tax consequences. I am sure others can think of other creative means to be able to utilize the entire $7,500 Federal tax rebate. However, if the family has no usable means to utilize the Federal tax rebate then Leasing the Volt may be a better idea. A free Lease would be much easier to qualify for as well. I may have to look in to that to see how to maximize a free Lease. I am not a CPA so this is all done in the name of fun with a lot of wishful thinking.
