You beat me to this. It's not just confined to EV tax credits.

40K-60K is what the majority of Americans make, outside of California and NYC that is a middle class salary and they can and do buy new cars with that pay, not 80K hybrids or 68K hybrids with the rebates but certainly family sedans/cuv's and some entry level lux cars. Housing is much more affordable outside Cali and NYC.

If it's really about adoption to "save the earth", why not give the rebates to everyone?

And many of the subsidies that people claim are for oil companies aren't really subsidies just for them. They are deductions that apply to any business, not just oil companies.

When this thing passes, I doubt it will be up to $12k of tax credits. Probably be whittled down to $7.5k and that would still be enough to incentivize many to switch to EV. There are many more choices coming out from other manufacturers and so this will benefit many of the OEMs as they can charge a little more and recoup costs. Tax credit incentivization is a much better solution to the EV transition than outright ban of ICE. I say count your lucky stars that this is the only ask from the progressive march. It could be much worse like federally mandated switch to EV for light passenger vehicles by x period.

Yeah, lucky us.

And the only reason the "progressive" march isn't going for a Fed mandate to eliminate ICE is because they know the backlash would be enormous.

It has nothing to do with saving the earth, EV's are not going to make any difference "saving the earth", they will likely make things worse.

I'd be interested in hearing what other industries can take advantage of the Intangible Drilling Costs subsidy, but that would take the thread further off track

The name is specific, but the concept isn't just for oil and used by many industries.

"The terminology might be different, but IDCs are just like tax deductions available to many American industries – to farmers for fertilizer and to technology companies for research and development. Even bakeries have deductible costs. Their supplies—sugar, flour, eggs—are all tax deductible raw materials, along with labor costs. No matter the industry, these are all upfront costs facing nearly every American small business owner with no guaranteed return on investment. In fact, IDCs are no different than costs that are immediately deductible under the general tax law that applies to all business losses – vital deductions, not government handouts, that help American businesses."

https://energytaxfacts.com/issues/in...rilling-costs/

I assume intangible drilling costs are subsidized because oil companies could be drilling for years in different places and find nothing. So it's an incentive that they keep drilling / exploring.

The deductions for intangible drilling costs are different than some of the operating expense deductions offered up as a comparison. Intangible drilling costs are capital costs, so would ordinarily be depreciated over the life of the asset, but instead they benefit from special accelerated deduction rules. They are the result of industry lobbying dollars, and are not at all analogous to the deduction of operating costs. The sugar/flour/eggs example to pick just one is simply false and a misrepresentation. And of course, advances in technology make it less likely that drilled wells will prove dry.

This is designed for the middle class. Was it designed to harm those in poverty? No.

Note that- for vehicles $80,000 or less. This is for curbing carbon missions and encourage larger adoption of EVs which will subsequently benefit people making less money as new and used EV’s become more affordable. They will benefit greatly from savings of not buying fuel assuming our power generation will be kept up as well with demands.

You can’t stop the electric train as GM, Ford and most automakers are heading that direction.

I see a lot of short term arguments on here.

Is there a market for EV's? With big tax credits for buyers, we won't really know. I saw that the Chinese (Hong Kong?) market for EV's dropped to ZERO after they rescinded their tax incentives a year or so ago. People who really want a Tesla (for example) can afford one; it's up to them to judge if it's worth it on its own merits, I should think. I've always liked the concept of EV's, but it should be an individual decision. Competitive market pricing pressure is a good thing; we shouldn't be having the government reducing it with our money, and lecturing us on how virtuous they are.

Seems to me what will happen is because demand outstrips supply auto makers will raise prices and with the tax credit selling price will be about the same.

Is that a real question? Why would car manufacturers even make EVs if there weren’t a market? they would revamp their business lines and invest billions and billions on the mere chance of tax credit incentives that may change every four years? That’s not good business sense period.

China and HK are difference. Half of the population in China lacks a running toilet and the small number of people are filthy rich. They’re slowly building their middle class which would take decades to do.

HK’s main mode of transportation is mass transit which makes buying gasoline cars, much less EV’s, a disposable income option for many. Not even considering limited space there.