As if we haven’t already had enough money wasted on funding green energy projects that do not work, President Obama wants billions more, according to a new Treasury Department report. Yes, you read that correctly. Remember Solyndra and the other failed green energy projects that were propped up with billions of taxpayer backed loans? That’s not enough money thrown down a rat hole, so Mr. Green President is trying to get billions more. Why am I not surprised?
Let’s look at some of the money/tax credits Obama is proposing.
Fox News – Among the biggest proposals is extending the 30 percent tax credit for Americans who invest in properties involved in advanced-energy products, including facilities that store energy for electric or hybrid-electric vehicles.
The government argues the $2.3 billion already allocated under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has resulted in roughly just one-third of eligible applicants receiving funding and that an additional $2.5 billion in credits should be authorized to meet the need.
The others tax incentives included in the president’s 2015 proposal include increasing the maximum tax break for smaller alternative-energy vehicles, from $7,500 to $10,000. Obama’s proposal also calls for extending the credit beyond plug-in electric vehicles to include all advanced-technology vehicles and for providing more flexibility for the credit.
The seller or financier could, for example, offer the credit as a point-of-sale rebate to the buyer, under the proposal.
But the $10,000 break would not apply to luxury vehicles costing more than $45,000 — including the Tesla Model S and the Cadillac ELR. The credit for those vehicles would be capped at $7,500, according to The Detroit News.
Another proposal is to extend tax credits on fuel-cell vehicles to those that run on such alternative fuels as hydrogen and liquefied natural gas.
The credit would go to manufactures, $25,000 for smaller vehicles and $40,00 of medium-sized ones, and could be transferred to a dealer or buyer.
The final of the four incentives would be extending the $1.01 a gallon tax credit for cellulosic biofuel that expired at the end of last year. The proposal would also make the credit retroactive.
Let me be clear about something. I have no problem with green energy, if it works. If someone can build an electric vehicle that supplies the needs of the consumer, then more power (pun fully intended) to them. What I do not care for is the idea of the American taxpayer subsidizing the cost of these vehicles. You see, the vehicles in question are extremely expensive to manufacture, mainly because of the cost of the batteries. Stack that on top of the fact that they have to be charged after driving a short distance and you have an expensive vehicle that is not even practical for most Americans to use.
I can hear the liberals and other green energy proponents now. I am sure they believe people like me just do not like changes, even if they are for the better, but my opposition to these subsidies has nothing to do with change. I just hate to see the American taxpayer helping an expensive and inferior product to be cheap enough so more Americans can afford the cost. Kind of like the ethanol subsidies that are now ingrained in the money we continue to throw down the aforementioned rat hole.
Every one of these subsidies is claimed to be a part of reducing our dependency on foreign oil, but the reality is that we already have ways to do that. It’s called drilling for oil in our own country. Or maybe approving the Keystone Pipeline. Instead, we continue throwing good money after bad, subsidizing green energy products that are expensive and unpractical. Will we never learn?