WASHINGTON, D.C. – While Ways and Means Republicans were taking action last week to help workers, families, farmers, and small businesses by passing the pro-growth, pro-worker American Families and Jobs Act, Democrats were defending their welfare-for-the-wealthy special interest tax breaks in their so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Across town, the White House was releasing rules to expedite government checks to big banks and other large corporations looking to cash in on the IRA’s “green” welfare for the wealthy.
As the Wall Street Journal reported:
Existing tax-equity investors such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are looking at ways they could take advantage of the transferable tax credits, while companies that are new to these types of investments might take longer to get comfortable with the new market…
The Inflation Reduction Act’s clean-energy credits have been more popular than projected and are likely to cost the government hundreds of billions of dollars more than previously forecast, according to recent public and private-sector estimates.
Republicans in Congress say many of the credits excessively benefit corporations and look more like spending programs than tax cuts. The House voted earlier this year to repeal many of the new and expanded credits, and the Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to pull back a smaller set of them. Biden and the Democratic-led Senate will likely block those efforts.
“It’s obvious which party is bailing out the wealthy,” said Rep. Jason Smith (R., Mo.), the committee’s chairman.
Replacing Bad Tax Policy with Good Tax Policy:
The Democrats’ so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” puts American taxpayers on the hook for big payouts to big corporations and big banks – the cost of which continues to spiral out of control.
- Companies with over $1 billion in sales receive more than 90 percent of special interest tax subsidies for electricity.
- Banks and insurers receive over half of these tax breaks, and more than three times as much as any other industry.
- New tax credits for luxury electric vehicles (EV) will predominantly benefit the wealthy as nearly 80 percent of EV credits flow to households earning six figures.
Under the Build It in America Act – part of a package of tax policies approved last week by Ways and Means Republicans – some of the worst tax policies in Democrats’ IRA are replaced in favor of broad-based policies that create jobs and benefit hardworking Americans.
- Repeals two special interest electricity credits that won’t go into effect until 2025 or later, and which have a price tag that has doubled to $116 billion.
- Rolls back three electric vehicle credits that have ballooned in cost by over 700 percent since last fall, saving taxpayers over $100 billion.