Tell Congress to Support the Commuter Transit Benefit

The transit commuter benefit is an employer provided federal tax benefit that allows working families to save money on their daily commute, saves businesses of all sizes critical dollars that can be reinvested to create new jobs, helps reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, saves energy and enhances our national security.

However, the monthly limit of the transit portion of the commuter benefit was reduced from $230 per month to $125 per month on January 1, 2012 because Congress failed to enact legislation to extend the higher level.  In the meantime, the monthly limit for the parking portion of the commuter benefit increased from $230 per month to $240 per month due to an automatic cost of living increase. Congress missed a critical opportunity to maintain parity between the transit portion and the parking portions of the commuter benefit when it extended other tax benefits at the end of 2011, costing many public transportation users up to $500 per year.  Congress is currently considering a surface transportation bill that we hope will include a provision to restore the transit benefit to the previous level.

We need your support now to urge Congress to take immediate action to pass legislation to restore parity between the transit and parking portions of the commuter benefit as part of the surface transportation authorization bill.