Free Republic

The Biden administration has offered a broad interpretation for where EV charger projects can qualify for new tax credits — making those credits available in places where about two thirds of Americans live. Under the Democrats’ climate, tax and healthcare bill, tax credits for electric vehicle chargers are available to those who build chargers in low income communities or in areas that are not considered urban. In new guidance announced Friday, the Biden administration offered a wide interpretation of non-urban — saying that it applied to any census tract where at least 10 percent of blocks have not been designated...

The Osage Nation won a massive ruling in Tulsa federal court on Wednesday that requires Enel to dismantle a 150-megawatt wind project it built in Osage County despite the tribe’s repeated objections. The tribe’s fight against Rome-based Enel began in 2011 and is the longest-running legal battle over wind energy in American history. As reported by Curtis Killman in the Tulsa World on Thursday, the ruling grants the United States, the Osage Nation, and Osage Minerals Council permanent injunctive relief via “ejectment of the wind turbine farm for continuing trespass.” The decision by U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer...

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says new federal legislation would make electric motorcycles more affordable while supporting manufacturers including Harley-Davidson. The Madison Dem last week introduced the Electric Motorcycle Parity Act alongside U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. The bill would add certain qualifying motorcycles to the list of vehicles that qualify for tax credits under the federal Inflation Reduction Act. In a statement on the bill, Baldwin said the IRA boosts domestic manufacturing while addressing climate change but “left motorcycle riders and our motorcycle manufacturers out of the equation.” “The Electric Motorcycle Parity Act will support Wisconsin workers...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s Senate passed a bill Monday that would give $25,000 in tax credits to former residents who move back to the state to work. The Senate passed the bill unanimously and sent it to the House of Delegates. Those eligible for the tax credit had to live and work in West Virginia for at least 10 years or were born in the state. They had to live outside of the state for at least 10 consecutive years prior to 2023. Unused portions of the credit could be applied to future tax years. The credit would...

HARRISBURG – The General Assembly has sent the governor legislation that will create a new program to encourage the development of technology to convert fracked gas into hydrogen through $141.6 million a year in tax credits. The approval of House Bill 1059 came over the objections of environmental groups and some Democrats who said that the plan will keep Pennsylvania invested in fossil fuel production for decades even as much of the world turns toward renewable energy. “State lawmakers have clearly not learned from example after example of broken promises,” said former Secretary of Environmental Protection Patrick McDonnell, now the...

As the Democrats force Americans to go green, automakers are going even greener. Ford and General Motors unveiled price increases for their electric vehicle lineups as the Inflation Reduction Act — which includes electric vehicle tax credits — is slated to become law. Citing “significant material cost increases and other factors,” Ford’s announcement revealed price hikes between $6,000 and $8,500 for its electric vehicles. The F-150 Lightning Pro, for example, will sell for $46,974 — a $7,000 increase from the $39,947 charged for last year’s model. GM likewise increased the cost of its electric Hummer by $6,250 last month. The...

Elon Musk has attacked a draft plan under consideration in California that critics say disincentivizes the use of rooftop solar panels.The Tesla founder was responding to changes proposed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to the state's Net Energy Metering (NEM) program.Under the program, the estimated 1.3 million homeowners and businesses in the Golden State who have installed rooftop solar panels can sell back surplus energy to the grid and receive credit on their bills.But last month the CPUC released a proposal calling for a number of changes, one of which is how much customers are paid when they...

U.S. Democratic lawmakers on Friday proposed an expansion of tax credits for electric vehicles that includes significantly higher subsidies for union-made zero emission models assembled in the United States. The proposal, a key part of President Joe Biden's goal to ensure EVs comprise at least 50% of U.S. vehicle sales by 2030 and boost U.S. union jobs, will give Detroit's Big Three automakers a big competitive edge and has drawn criticism from foreign automakers like Honda Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp. The tax credit for up to $12,500 per vehicle for U.S.-made union-made zero emission models compares with a...

Marketing is everything in politics. It explains why a tax credit that benefits 90% of American families with kids -- some of them with income higher than $400,000 -- is marketed as an anti-poverty measure. But in politics, that marketing is often an illusion that hides the hard consequences of a preferred policy. With the latest COVID-19 relief package, Congress expanded the child tax credit, increasing the maximum amount a taxpayer could claim from $2,000 per child to $3,000 for those aged 6 to 17 and to $3,600 under age 6. The expanded part of the credit begins to decrease...

For decades, discussions of “family policy” in the U.S. have been associated with the broader liberal agenda, from raising the minimum wage to universal childcare and paid leave mandates. The default conservative response has been to resort to the usual talking points: too expensive, too heavy-handed, too much of a threat to liberty.

People To Have More Babies Republicans must become not just the party of workers but also the party of families. They should do it by upping Joe Biden’s proposed child tax credit into something bigger.As the Republican Party charts its path during a Joe Biden presidency, there will undoubtedly be calls from the corporate wing to return to the neoliberal orthodoxy that defined it under the Bushes, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan. This would be a profound mistake.President Donald Trump has repositioned Republicans as the party of workers with his focus on trade, industrial, and immigration issues. By crafting an...

The U.S. Travel Association is encouraging the Trump administration to turbocharge the reopening of the travel economy by creating a temporary travel tax credit. “To reduce the time it takes to get to full recovery, Congress should create a new tax credit to encourage domestic business and leisure travelers to travel within a specified time frame, similar to what was done through the homebuyer tax credit in the wake of the housing crisis,” U.S. Travel said in a legislative priorities document. President Trump mentioned the idea in May during a White House roundtable with restaurant industry executives, calling the creation...

Hillary Clinton Appeals Federal Court Order to Go Under Oath Where are Hillary Clinton’s Text Messages? FBI Cleared Extremists Who Carried Out Deadliest U.S. Attacks Since 9/11 U.S. Makes $175 Billion in Payments “That Should Not Have Been Made” Hillary Clinton Appeals Federal Court Order to Go Under Oath In another desperate attempt by the Clinton machine to delay truth and accountability for her email conduct and how it impacted the people’s “right to know” under FOIA, lawyers for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills have asked the Court of Appeals...

Seven hundred kids. That’s how many students would have lost their scholarships—and a chance at a better life—if Fifth Third Bank hadn’t come to its senses. Instead, after a week of uncertainty, the company sat down with Florida parents and pastors and decided not to listen to Florida’s cultural bullies. It’s one thing for a company to support LGBT extremism. It’s quite another, the bank agreed, to hurt needy children in the process. Most kids had already left school for the weekend when they got the good news: One of the biggest contributors to the Florida voucher program wasn’t dropping...

Last week, Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bank announced they no longer would donate to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which enables more than 108,000 low-income children and children in foster care to receive scholarships to attend a safe and effective school of choice. The move comes after the Orlando Sentinel published a piece suggesting that $105 million in tax credit scholarships had been used by families to pay tuition at faith-based schools that, as The Federalist’s Joy Pullmann put it, “uphold their faiths’ historic sexual ethics.” Businesses that contribute to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations in the state can receive...

The IRS overpaid nearly $3.5 billion in Obamacare tax credits last year that it cannot recoup because of constraints built into the program, frustrating Republicans who have failed to repeal the health care law but say that money could have been spent on programs for veterans or infrastructure. A Treasury watchdog said the government paid out roughly $24 billion in Obamacare subsidies in the heart of the 2017 tax-filing season, with $5.8 billion in overages. Of that, just $2.3 billion was clawed back, leaving $3.5 billion in outstanding excess payments. “The overpayments were that much?” said Rep. Phil Roe, Tennessee...

Even as Democrats continue to obstruct and play politics, I have never stopped fighting for the people, and I have no intention of changing course. I promised Jan. 20, 2017, would be remembered as a new day for all Americans – the day the people became the rulers of this nation once again. For the past 365 days, that promise has been my guide. We are putting America first, making real change in Washington, and creating opportunities for all of our people. From coast to coast, there is a renewed spirit. Our country is roaring back more quickly than anyone...

Thanksgiving and Christmas came a little early today for Quentin Tarantino and Sony Pictures. Picked up by the studio last week, as my colleague Mike Fleming Jr exclusively reported, the director’s next feature is among the 11 films awarded nearly $62.8 million in California tax credits. The Chris Sanders’ helmed adaptation of Jack London’s Call of the Wild, Destroyer, starring Nicole Kidman and directed by the Karyn Kusama, and an untitled Dan Gilroy project starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo were also recipients of the latest round of the hefty incentives made public Monday. The announcement this morning by the...

Dozens of public transit projects around the country are in danger of stalling as the White House's plan to boost U.S. infrastructure fails to gain momentum - with thousands of jobs at risk. The uncertainty over these projects has worsened in recent days as President Donald Trump - who had vowed to make the week's focus infrastructure - faced a series of distractions, including a congressional hearing featuring former FBI director James Comey. The president, who had called for $1 trillion in new infrastructure programs to create millions of jobs, now faces an increasing probability that not only will his...

Americans are justifiably frustrated regarding what is going on in Washington, D.C. But let's not forget that we elect these folks. We may have a mess, but we can at least be proud that it's our mess. There is one unique problem. Unlike business, where change can be made quickly, government programs are so hard to change that it is almost a one-way street. It's not so easy to pass new programs, but once they're passed, we're stuck with them, generally, forever. Sure, technically they can be changed. But when is the last time we saw a major government program...