The House Tax Bill: An All Out Attack on Clean Energy–Take Action

From the Union of Concerned Scientists (http://www.ucsusa.org):

The tax bill being debated in the House is a bad deal. In addition to cutting taxes for the wealthy at the expense of middle class and low-income families, it also poses a major threat to the success of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies that save consumers money, create jobs, and reduce climate and air pollution.

Federal tax credits are essential for innovative technologies to reach large scale markets and become cost competitive with conventional technologies. Exactly how quickly we can scale up these clean technologies will depend in large part on policy incentives. Of course, dirty fossil fuel industries don’t want to compete with cleaner technologies, so it’s not surprising that their friends in Congress and the Trump Administration want to pull the plug on electric vehicles and hamstring renewable energy in their tax reform bill. 

This plan is unacceptable. Call your representative today and urge them to oppose this harmful tax bill.

Here are just some of the things the bill does to undermine clean energy:

1.  Eliminates the EV tax credit – Federal tax credits of up to $7,500 to new electric vehicle (EV) buyers would be eliminated starting in 2018. The credit brings the cost of EVs more in line with conventional cars, which gives consumers more affordable clean vehicle choices in the showroom, spurs advancements in EV technologies, and cuts tailpipe pollution. Battery electric cars are already cheaper to drive and maintain, and the Union of Concerned Scientists has forecast that EVs will become cost competitive by 2025. But until then, the federal tax credit remains a critical policy.
2.  Creates a barrier to new solar and wind projects – The production tax credit (PTC) for wind and the investment tax credit (ITC) for solar will have a shorter timeframe for eligible projects, reducing the value of these tax credits.  This shorter timeframe will reduce the number of projects that get built and the jobs, investments, and tax revenues in rural communities that go along with them. The PTC and ITC have helped double US wind capacity between 2009 and 2016, and bring the average cost of solar PV systems down by more than 60 percent.

Don’t let the House and President Trump pull the plug on a clean energy and transportation future. Stand up for clean vehicles and clean energy: tell Congress to oppose the tax reform bill.