Bruce Harmon/Trans Pix
Congress went home for the year without extending a tax deduction that is credited with helping boost truck sales during choppy economic times.
Bonus depreciation, as the provision is known, allowed fleet owners and operators to write off 50% percent of the cost of new trucks and equipment purchases during the first year of ownership in 2013. That benefit is set to expire Dec. 31.
Usually, depreciation is written off gradually as the new asset loses value with age. Congress created the bonus depreciation program in 2010 to help the manufacturing sector from the recession.
Owners buying equipment for their businesses could write off 100% of their purchase cost in the 2011 tax year. The benefit was extended under the deal that avoided the "fiscal cliff" in 2013 but at the reduced level.
