Report Urges Congress to End Boondoggle Green Subsidies Now

Photo Credit: Getty

Congress has a golden opportunity now, during final negotiations over the budget, to wipe out green subsidies passed back in 2022 as part of the poorly named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a new Competitive Enterprise Institute report argues.

Contrary to its title, the IRA was never about reducing inflation, instead committing the federal government to spend between $936 billion and $1.97 trillion in taxpayer dollars over 10 years in the hope of creating jobs in the electric vehicle, solar, and other green industries.

“Government subsidies hold people back,” said Ryan Young, CEI senior economist and report co-author. “When the IRA picks winners and losers, the winners are electric vehicle companies, solar companies, and other green producers, and the losers are everyone else: taxpayers, entrepreneurs in other industries, their would-be investors, and even competitors who are in politically favored industries who lack political connections.”

“IRA subsidies do not create net value,” added report co-author and CEI energy policy analyst Jacob Tomasulo. “Subsidies take already-existing money out of some pockets and put it into others in a zero-sum game.”

Among the subsidies Congress should eliminate:

  • Clean Vehicle Credit: Up to $7,500 per qualifying vehicle that encourages consumers to buy electric vehicles rather than gas-powered vehicles.
  • Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: A $27 billion slush fund funneled to nonprofits favored by EPA bureaucrats.
  • 45Q tax credit: Routed to power plants and other industrial facilities to reduce carbon emissions and increase green jobs – but in reality used to justify requirements most power plants can’t achieve.
  • Investment and Production Tax Credits: Endless subsidies first started in 1978 to prop up wind, solar, and other green technologies at the expense of more affordable, reliable energy sources.

View the report, End IRA Subsidies Now! From opportunity costs to opportunities realized by Ryan Young and Jacob Tomasulo