EV tax credit angers excluded carmakers

Electric Vehicle Tax Credit: What to Know for 2020 - Clark Howard

 

The House Ways and Means Committee will vote Tuesday on a $12,500 tax credit plan for electric vehicles, a plan drawn up by Democrats but one that already has drawn the anger of car manufacturers left out of the proposal.

If Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern’s comments on Friday about the entire $3.5 trillion reconciliation package are any indication, he might likely voted against the credit proposal. Hern, a member of the committee, was critical of the reconciliation package, stating how Democrats moved the plan as quickly as possible while ignoring the crisis at the Southern border, the domestic oil shortage, the inflation crisis, the crime crisis and the crisis in Afghanistan.

” Decisions made by this majority have already resulted in rampant inflation, a burden felt the strongest by low-income families. Decisions by this majority and their allies in the White House have led to a sluggish recovery from harmful COVID shutdowns and underwhelming jobs numbers month after month,” said Hern in prepared remarks before the Committee’s markup last week. (click here for video)

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“It’s time to take a look in the mirror and realize that more spending is not the answer. More taxes won’t solve anything. New programs and new definitions and all the money you can throw at them will not dig us out of this hole.”

As for the EV credit proposal, some automakers aren’t happy. Honda and Toyota expressed their disapproval over the weekend because the tax credit would only be for union-made cars assembled in the U.S. It would eliminate the Japanese automakers along with Elon Musk’s Tesla, leaving them in the rear view mirror of congress.

The tax credit is part of President Biden’s goal to have electric vehicles make up 50% of U.S. vehicle sales by 2030. The Tuesday vote by Rep. Hern and others on the Ways and Means Committee will decide whether the administration can effectively close the EV gap by offering huge tax credits.

But Honda and Toyota argue the fast-track favors the Big three US automakers—GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.

Honda has factories in Indiana, Ohio and Alabama and criticized the Democrats’ plan by saying it “discriminates among EVs made by hard-working American auto workers based simply on whether they belong to a union.”