Democrats’ “green” energy subsidies in the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA) will cost three times what was originally projected, according to new analysis featured in the Wall Street Journal. Taxpayers are on the hook for a massive tax bill so the Biden Administration can shovel more money into the hands of the wealthy, large corporations, and foreign countries.
The analysis projects that this taxpayer-funded welfare for the wealthy will cost $1.2 trillion, triple the Congressional Budget Office’s $391 billion assumption when the law was passed.
The main reason for the massive price tag jump is that the taxpayer funded subsidies for green energy are being claimed by large corporations, foreign competitors, and wealthy taxpayers at a much higher rate than anticipated.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted that the real cost of IRA tax subsidies is driving the price tag higher:
“The Congressional Budget Office forecast that the IRA’s energy and climate provisions would cost $391 billion between 2022 and 2031, but this appears to be a huge under-estimate. One reason is companies are rushing to cash in on tax credits that aren’t capped. The Biden Administration is also loosely interpreting conditions for the credits…[the Goldman Sachs] estimate for the EV credit [$393 billion] could be low if Treasury loosely interprets the credit conditions, which is what auto makers are lobbying for.”
Last week, the Biden Administration unveiled new lax rules on battery content sourcing requirements for the IRA’s electric vehicle (EV) tax credit, which will allow foreign competitors to utilize these taxpayer subsidies and further undermine America’s domestic critical mineral production. As Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) said following the release of the Biden Administration’s EV credit guidance:
“The Biden Administration is sacrificing America’s economic and national security for the sake of writing as many green corporate welfare checks as quickly as possible, leaving America’s key supply chains in the control of the Chinese Communist Party. While the Biden Administration is putting taxpayers on the hook to send money to foreign countries – in violation of a law President Biden championed and signed himself – it is also throwing up roadblocks to bringing more of our critical mineral supply chain to the United States.”
READ: Biden Admin Rewards Foreign Countries with Access to American Taxpayer-Funded EV Credits
Key Takeaways:
- The Price of Democrats’ Welfare for the Wealthy Keeps Rising:
- Electric vehicle tax credits will be a $393 billion (28 times the original estimate) taxpayer subsidy to automakers when taxpayers earning up to $300,000 a year buy from them.
- “Green” energy manufacturing credits are projected to cost upwards of $193 billion (over 5 times the original estimate).
- “Green” home and building credits now clock in at $44 billion (22 times their original estimate).
- A separate analysis of the IRA’s electric vehicle battery production credits projects a cost to taxpayers of over $196 billion – a 542 percent increase from the law’s original sticker price.
- Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act Enriches China
- Ford is exploiting a loophole in the law to qualify for taxpayer-funded credits using Chinese workers and technologies.
- LONGi Green Energy Technologies, a solar panel manufacturer with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the usage of forced labor, is partnering with a U.S. firm on a plant in Ohio that will utilize IRA “green” tax credits.
- Biden Trade Agenda Benefits Foreign Countries Over America: The Biden Administration’s decision to open up eligibility for green tax credits for foreign countries with whom they have signed fake critical mineral “free trade agreements” means more taxpayer dollars will flow to foreign countries and companies, instead of securing critical supply chains in America and with the trusted trading partners that Congress meant to include.
Original source can be found here.