Hybrid car earns U.S. tax deduction

In August, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced that owners of Toyota Prius automobiles were entitled to a $2000 tax deduction for the first year the car was in service, beginning retroactively in 2001. The Prius is the first hybrid gas-electric automobile to be eligible for a clean-burning fuel deduction, in accordance with federal law that allows individuals to claim a deduction for the incremental cost of buying a motor vehicle propelled by a clean-burning fuel. The Prius uses a 70-horsepower engine supplemented by a 44-horsepower electric drive motor, and the U.S. EPA estimates that it gets 52 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city and 45 mpg on the highway. For more information, go to http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-02-93.pdf .