Following the implosion of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better economic agenda, Democrats are now seeking to resurrect it by pushing the unworkable idea of electric vehicle credits.
The bane of Biden’s green agenda, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), recently mocked the idea, asserting that it was “ludicrous” to pursue tax credits for electric vehicles that would ostensibly comprise nearly half of all cars on the road by 2030 if Democrats get their way. His argument is it doesn’t make sense for the government to subsidize purchases of electric vehicles when demand exceeds supply.
However, Democrats seem to be determined to put those tax credits back on the table as part of broader legislation to make the economy more environmentally friendly. It’s a move to promote Biden’s climate agenda which is increasingly being promoted as another emergency.
“There’s a lot of promise with EV tax credits, and I believe it’s still on the table,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) stated during an interview with The Hill.
“If you’re fortunate enough to be able to buy an electric vehicle to avoid the high gas prices we created, then we will give you back some of your money we forced you to pay us” -Democrats
— Douglas MechArthur (@Kicksbuttson) June 9, 2022
“My vision on this would be to have a strong utilization of our tax code to incentivize and bolster and support R&D initiatives,” she noted. “I don’t think it’s all in the tax code, but there’s certainly a lot of potential.”
The problem is that somehow Democrats think they can lure Americans into switching to electric vehicles with tax credits. That occurs after purchasing a monstrously expensive car that most Americans cannot afford. It shows a massive disconnect with Americans and how they live.
This pisses me off. It’s so tone def and holier than thou. not everyone has an EV, and they’re incredibly expensive investments, even after current tax credits. Instead of preaching, do your job and helps the public. Don’t talk down on the pop who’s goin thru the shit now. https://t.co/2f2sNpy5v6
— Direwolf of Wall st (@jhoch2233) June 9, 2022
The Democrats were originally bantering around a $7,500 tax rebate for Americans who buy an electric vehicle. That amount would increase to $12,500 if the car is made with union labor and domestic component parts.
Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) believes the bumped-up credit with the union-labor provision is a feature, not a bug of the legislation. He doesn’t see it as shilling for the unions in the least.
In a statement issued from his office, Ruiz said he “believes expanding our use of affordable electric vehicles with batteries that are made in America with American materials and union labor is integral to our transition to a clean energy future.”
There aren’t enough charging stations. The infrastructure can’t support that much power. Electric vehicles are too expensive and the batteries aren’t good for the environment. We are nowhere near going green.
— Chuck Swankosky (@ChuckSwankosky) June 9, 2022
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not a fan of the proposed tax credit. He’s also not a fan of unions in general and his factories are not unionized. He referred to Biden as a “UAW [United Auto Workers] sock puppet” on Twitter previously.
Biden is a UAW 🧦 puppet
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2021
The left is lining up in favor of it despite what Americans think of the effort.
“Rising gas prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine crystallize the urgent need to end our dependency on fossil fuels,” Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), who is a member of the chief tax-writing committee in the House, stated. “To do that, electric vehicles can’t just be for the wealthy. That’s why I strongly support electric vehicle tax credits to bring the cost down and make this technology available to all Americans.”
“Now is the time for Congress to drive the future of transportation,” Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) also said in a statement.
“Consumer incentives are very important still at this stage in the game, while we’re still at very low levels of EV penetration, right at 4 percent,” John Bozzella, who is the head of the auto industry trade association Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said during a panel presentation earlier in the year.
“Eventually you’ll see that type of support for those sales phase out as we get to much higher levels of EV penetration, but they’re important now,” he contended.
Good luck with that. Biden was already warned about rolling blackouts for 2/3 of the country this summer. Good luck with that theft credit when you have no power to charge them.
— RESIST the Global Elite! (@ChadOCo26950450) June 9, 2022
Republicans are not impressed or enthused over the push for electric vehicles.
“Given that only the richest 1 percent of Americans are driving electric vehicles, the committee should be focused on more pressing issues,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told the House energy subcommittee in March.
He also commented at a recent meeting, “America is the world’s leading producer of oil and gas, and we should act like it. We can produce significantly more energy than we do today and unleash the vast resources under our feet.”
Michigan gas prices passed $5 today. We’ve got to unleash American energy in order to provide folks some much needed financial relief as inflation continues to climb.
— Rep. Fred Upton (@RepFredUpton) June 7, 2022
“‘Just buy an electric car’ is not a solution to Biden’s energy crisis for many Americans,” Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) remarked, according to The Hill. “Comments like this show the stark disparity between the Biden administration and the American people.”
This is what happens when leaders turn their backs on American energy and fail to prioritize our energy independence at home. https://t.co/WXTMPw0ccE
— Shelley Moore Capito (@SenCapito) June 9, 2022
And then there are those on the left who prefer a carbon tax, which again, is something Americans do not want.
“There’s still a very long way to go. It would be a lot more efficient, by any measure, to use a carbon tax to incentivize electric vehicle purchases,” Thornton Matheson, who is a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, said during a recent interview, according to The Hill. “In other words, instead of making the electric vehicles cheaper, make fuel more expensive.”
Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center wrote a brief that asserted that Manchin is right about electric vehicles but only in the short term. In his reality, it’s all about the carbon tax.
“In the short run, Manchin is right,” Gleckman wrote. “But in the long run, his reasoning is exactly the justification for a carbon tax, though he might not want to admit it. If the goal is to use government policy to encourage manufacturers to dramatically increase the supply of EVs, a carbon tax would be much more efficient than an EV credit.”
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