Sen. Reid Calls Upon Congress To Raise EV Tax Incentives

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

For the past three years, President Barack Obama has called upon Congress to raise tax incentives for electric vehicles from $7,500 to $10,000, with those calls going unanswered.

This year, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate is taking the charge.

The Detroit News reports Senate Majority Leader Henry Reid of Nevada pushed Congress to boost the incentives — and, therefore, EV sales — proclaiming the government needed to do more to encourage sales:

In order to truly promote innovation, we must as a Congress create opportunities for consumers to invest in advanced technologies, and we haven’t done that yet. We need more tax incentives for that. In 2008, we encouraged America to invest in the growth of the electric car industry with tax credits for qualified electric vehicles.

The extra $2,500 would provide dealers an opportunity to claim credits so long as they disclosed that info to their customers, which would then give said customers a chance to claim the credits at the point of sale, instead of filing a claim with their taxes the following year.

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Nickoo Nickoo on Oct 01, 2014

    Ugh some of these comments want me want to bang my head on my desk. These are miniscule tax incentives for cleaner cars built by us companies, us workers, and in the us, powered by us energy and is what we should be offering tax incentives for. If you all want to bitch about taxes and deficits, go bitch about the trillion dollar f35 program, navy shipbuilding, congress forcing the dod to carry on legacy programs that cost billions, aid to Israel, fighting "isis", the trillions blown on the war on terror, the bank bailouts, quantitative easing, tax breaks on long term cap gains which mostly benifit capitalists (hint: that ain't you), and the money spent on illegal immigrants. These cars are the stepping stone to get us off foreign oil, which has shaped our foriegn policy for the worse for the last 65 years and cost us trillions in externalities and lives. Most of you are so brainwashed that politics is an us vs them sport that you completely oppose any idea no matter how good it is from one side and support terrible ideas and regimes in your own side, Limbaugh bobblehead parrots need to visit the wizard and wish for a brain.

    • Jkross22 Jkross22 on Oct 01, 2014

      How is it that independence of foreign oil will eliminate bank bailouts? Let me pop some popcorn first.

  • Nickoo Nickoo on Oct 01, 2014

    Ugh some of these comments want me want to bang my head on my desk. These are miniscule tax incentives for cleaner cars built by us companies, us workers, and in the us, powered by us energy and is what we should be offering tax incentives for. If half of you all want to b about taxes and deficits, go b about the trillion dollar f35 program, navy shipbuilding, congress forcing the dod to carry on legacy programs that cost billions, aid to Israel, fighting "isis", the trillions blown on the war on terror, the bank bailouts, quantitative easing, tax breaks on long term cap gains which mostly benifit capitalists (hint: that ain't you), and the money spent on illegal immigrants. These cars are the stepping stone to get us off foreign oil, which has shaped our foriegn policy for the worse for the last 65 years and cost us our reputation, trillions in externalities, and hundreds of thousands of lives. Most of you are so brainwashed that politics is an us vs them sport that you completely oppose any idea no matter how good it is from one side and support terrible ideas and régimes on your own side.

  • Fozone Fozone on Oct 01, 2014

    I'd rather the government *give away* a Leaf to every taxpayer that wanted one, rather than have any more misguided military adventures in the middle east. I suspect it would be cheaper.

    • See 10 previous
    • CJinSD CJinSD on Oct 02, 2014

      @Landcrusher Did you miss the part where three trillion barrels of oil is roughly three times the amount of oil that has been consumed by man thus far? That doesn't matter because you are completely detached from reality. It's funny how deluded academics in the BS arts can become when they interact with and seek approval from other academics of BS. Just look at the George Washington University law professor doing TV appearances about his lawsuit with the FCC to take down the Redskins. If he had the intelligence of a fruit-fly, he wouldn't let his name and face be attached to his actions. You don't see the atheists putting their faces on their acts of hate. The price of solar is going down because the cost is being hidden from the user for now. All we're doing is eroding our long term existence to distract and divide the population as we replace real energy with the illusion of energy. Three trillion barrels of oil don't matter. Thanks. You've given me a new cocktail party conversation topic with which to mock participants in your deranged circle jerk.

  • Stingray65 Stingray65 on Oct 01, 2014

    Is Harry Reid standing in front of Karl Marx? "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need".

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    • Petezeiss Petezeiss on Oct 01, 2014

      @VoGo I thought it was Beethoven but then I checked and he didn't have a beard.

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