Energy analysts have long warned that the green-energy subsidies stuffed inside Biden’s mislabeled “Inflation Reduction Act” would be rife with corruption and waste. But even they didn’t expect this much of a scandal — and this soon.
Axios reports that the Biden tax credits to electric-battery and solar-panel manufacturers are so generous that they may cost the government $136 billion over ten years
That’s over four times what the Congressional Budget Office originally estimated. The tax credits apparently are paying for a full third of the cost of making batteries. That will certainly lead to overproduction and even greater demand for the scarce minerals used in making them.
“Tesla alone expects to earn up to $1 billion in battery tax credits this year,” Axios continues. Elon Musk told shareholders last month that the income for Tesla from the credits could be “gigantic” in future years, perhaps $17.5 billion a year. At that rate, Musk may pay for his entire $44 billion purchase of Twitter in very short order.
Other companies are hip deep in the gravy pool. General Motors is on track to rake in so much that it might revive its old “Government Motors” moniker.
To top things off, the battery-production credits are actual cash rather than tax write-offs. So a company doesn’t have to pay taxes to rake in the bonanza. So much for “tax reform” making sure the rich pay their “fair share.”