If you own your own company, leasing is not nearly as bad of a deal. You can write off every penny of the lease payments (assuming you have another car to drive for personal use), as well as gas, maintenance, etc. Plus your car is always under warranty.
If you purchase a vehicle, you can only depreciate the value and take a tax deduction for about 4-5 years (depending on how you calculate the depreciation). But you are still responsible for paying for the entire vehicle-and payments themselves are not deductible.
So while for most folks, leasing is a bad deal....business owners don't do too bad!
