Executive
Waste of the Day: Expanded EV Charger Tax Credit Will Now Cost $900 Billion
The government has expanded a tax credit for electric vehicle chargers – and at $7500 each, it will cost $900 billion.
Topline: A $7,500 federal tax credit meant to help those in poor or rural areas buy electric vehicle chargers is now applicable to parts of huge cities like New York and Los Angeles, according to updated rules from the Treasury and a Wall Street Journal report.
Key facts: President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 created a tax break that covers 30% of the cost of an EV charger for “low-income and non-urban” drivers.
This month, the Treasury changed its definition of “low-income” to include neighborhoods where the median income is less than 80% of the surrounding area’s median income.
That definition fits relatively poor areas of prosperous cities such as Manhattan’s Times Square, where income is high but still lower than most of New York, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The updated meaning of “non-urban” includes any neighborhood where less than 90% of blocks are designated as urban. So, a town that is 89% bustling metro could claim the tax credit as a rural area.
Now, “low-income and non-urban” applies to two-thirds of America, according to the White House’s press release.
Background: The credit expansion will contribute to the rising cost of Inflation Reduction Act climate subsidies. Democrats said that the subsidies would cost $391 billion when the bill first became law, but The Brookings Institution estimates the real cost at closer to $900 billion.
The Treasury has already issued guidance that expanded tax credits for “energy property” such as solar panels.
Critical quote: “The Administration just will not stop ignoring the law in pursuit of its radical climate agenda — no matter the cost,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) said in a written statement. “This proposed guidance ensures that rural Americans will remain stuck at the end of the investment line, the exact problem this tax credit was supposed to address, choosing to give hand-outs to those that don’t need it while ignoring its responsibility to provide a hand up to rural communities at risk of being left behind.”
Summary: The Inflation Reduction Act’s investments in clean energy are important for the country’s future, but sending $7,500 tax breaks to individuals who can afford new technology themselves is a way to waste taxpayer dollars.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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