QOTD: Should The EV Tax Credit Go Away?
There's a possibility that the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles could get killed as Republicans look for ways to pay for President Donald Trump's tax cuts. House Speaker Mike Johnson has implied it's likely, though he left room for keeping it.
This is actually a dual QOTD. Question one is should the tax credit be kept, and question two is what will happen to the industry, especially in terms of EV sales, if it does go away?
I am of the opinion that it should stay and that EV sales will take a hit if the cut is ended. And I say this being fully aware that given the price of some EVs, and the income bracket of some EV buyers -- well, let's just say that some percentage of EV buyers don't really need the tax credit.
On the other hand, there are buyers who will be incentivized by the credit, whether they need it or not.
But that's my take. The whole point of the QOTD is to ask you, the B and B, what you think.
So, go ahead and sound off below.
[Image: Thewsila/Shutterstock.com]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
More by Tim Healey
Comments
Join the conversation
It should go. It only benefits those who can afford an EV and those who have a garage where they can charge at home. That's not me. I live in a complex in Phoenix (as do nearly half of the citizens) with a covered parking lot. There is a shopping center nearby with chargers (Tesla super ones, too) but getting maybe 300 miles on a charge one or two times a week...what do I do whle the car is charging? Too far to walk home. No need to shop there. Don't need to eat there.
Until you can get a charge in about 5-10 minutes, and until prices drop into the 30s, and insurance isn't insane on an EV -- it just isn't practical for us. And because half of the country can't realistically live full time with an EV, why should they help subsidies the half that can?
Not fair.
Yes. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing people's cars. If EVs are so great, which they're not, they should be able to sell profitably without taxpayer funded subsidy. And before people jump on me about "well, you know, there are taxpayer funded subsidies for -insert some random industry here-!!!111!!!!" just be forewarned, I believe all subsidies for everything should be set to zero. Same with foreign aid. Zero. If we stop spending tax dollars on BS we shouldn't be spending them on, we would be taxed much less. But of course, that would require having lawmakers that don't have their hands in the proverbial cookie jar, grabbing their kickbacks as a result of giving out subsidies.