What happens when Washington muscles its way into the marketplace?
In the case of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, which President Barack Obama once said was, “leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future,” the result is a loss to taxpayers in excess of $500 million.
Recently, the Inspector General for the Department of Energy released its post-mortem of the failed energy company’s efforts to secure a government-backed loan and found that, “…actions of certain Solyndra officials were, at best reckless and irresponsible or, at worst, an orchestrated effort to knowingly and intentionally deceive and mislead.”
When bureaucrats pick winners and losers in the marketplace, the game is always stacked. Heads, the crony business wins; tails, the taxpayer loses. This is what we can expect from solar energy subsidies in Georgia.
While Obama and his progressive allies clearly favor certain industries over others, Americans for Prosperity does not. Georgia households deserve access to affordable and reliable energy solutions. They also deserve to have their tax dollars spent wisely, not on handouts for special interests like those in the green-energy industry. Energy companies should compete on their merits in an open marketplace without a leg up from government.
Through 2014, Georgia offered a 35 percent personal tax credit up to $10,500 for solar power installations. On top of federal solar incentives, Georgians could save more than $20,000 at taxpayer expense. Not only do these solar tax credits represent unadulterated corporate cronyism , but they deprive government of legitimate revenue it should have to fund roads, schools and other necessities. In the process, renewable energy tax credits and subsidies force higher taxes across the board on the rest of us, all to subsidize unreliable and expensive energy sources that are not self-sustaining.
The president and his left-leaning allies consistently change the goal posts in order to justify their cap-and-tax schemes. Enter Obama’s latest attempt to tax the climate, the so-called “Clean Power Plan.” It seeks to force states to cut an average of 32 percent of their carbon emissions by 2030 (and 34 percent here in Georgia). The Environmental Protection Agency has said that carbon regulation would only impact global temperatures by 0.018 degrees between now and the year 2100. That’s a lot of pain for woefully little gain.
To achieve this, the president has stated a goal of doubling our renewable electricity production from 13 percent today to 28 percent by 2030. What he fails to mention is that green energies are more expensive and less reliable than conventional sources. Electricity from new wind is, on average, three times more expensive than electricity generated from coal. What is often forgotten in Washington steakhouses is how policies like these impact the most vulnerable Americans. The poorest among us use three times the energy as a percentage of their income as the average American does.
According to a study by the National Black Chamber of Commerce, this EPA plan will increase the black poverty rate from 26 percent to 32 percent by 2025. For Hispanics, the poverty rate will rise from 23 percent to 29 percent.
I may be a farmer from North Georgia, but it doesn’t take a hedge fund manager to realize that “environmental justice” brings no justice for the poor and has absolutely no impact on the climate. When politicians talk about giving subsidies and tax carve-outs to their favorite industries, be skeptical. This type of policy making results in government subsidizing the politically-connected at the expense of the average American.
It’s been said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Let’s get some sunshine on these corporate welfare policies.
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