Opinion

Hey Neat, Spend $1,000 On Green Energy And The Feds Will Give You A $300 Tax Credit To Reduce Inflation. Thanks, Biden!

   DailyWire.com
U.S. President Joe Biden, right, greets Jennifer Granholm, U.S. energy secretary, while arriving to a meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
Sarah Silbiger/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Great news kemosabes, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, you can soon start saving hundreds via tax credits — you just have to start shelling out thousands of dollars on green energy appliances to reap the benefits.

Earlier this week, CNN needled President Joe Biden’s energy secretary Jennifer Granholm on how exactly the Inflation Reduction Act would help American consumers, considering that several studies show it could barely impact prices. Granholm promised that the law would “immediately” have an impact if Americans simply put in a little elbow grease and spent some of their hard-earned money to fight climate change.

“Oh I this, this … First of all, immediately, people will be able to lower the fuel costs in their homes,” Granholm said. “There’s a 30% tax credit that you can claim in 2022 for installing energy-efficient windows, heat pumps, energy efficient appliances. That is right away.”

“And, on top of that of course, if citizens want to install solar panels on their roofs so that they can generate their own power, that’s another 30% tax credit,” Granholm continued. “And of course, there is the tax credits at the dealership for the automotive sector for electric vehicles and if you install an electric vehicle charging station in your home, you can also get a tax credit.”

In other words, for every $1,000 you spend, you’ll receive a $300 tax credit. Never mind the fact that you are already digging into your savings under Bidenomics, just dig a little deeper for the sake of the planet, by golly!

Readers might remember that in 2009, then-Vice President Biden claimed that the U.S. had to spend money to avoid economic doom.

While speaking to an audience, Biden said “look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?'”

“The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you,” he said in an excited voice.

It seems that is the same financial advice Granholm is giving the average American in 2022.

Let’s estimate the costs of a few of Granholm’s suggested home “improvements.”

The average energy-efficient window pane costs anywhere from $325 to $1,110, according to Modernize, a home services website. That price range is per window — not for the entire home. Using those figures, on the lowest end of the spectrum, if you had four windows in your home, you’d need to spend at least $1,300 before any labor or delivery costs are even calculated into it. If you did that, you would get a $390 tax credit.

Then, if you wanted to put solar panels on your roof, you would need to spend even more money.

Looking at Granholm’s home state of Michigan, the average solar-panel system costs roughly $16,020 — pre-federal incentives — according to Consumer Affairs. Again, with a 30% tax credit, you’d receive $4,806.00 back if you spent that kind of moolah.

So, if you’re somebody who lives in a four-window home and wants to purchase a basic solar-panel system and buy some efficient windows – you’ll need to spend $17,320 to “save” $5,196.00. Of course, four-window homes are hard to come by, and if they do exist, it is doubtful that their occupants can afford to spend that kind of money.

And of course, you can go hog wild and even put an electric charging station on your property, which will cost hundreds more. Yet that only makes sense if you own an electric car in the first place. Buying one of those bad boys will likely cost you tens of thousands more dollars.

The other thing that should be pointed out is that in 2020, there was a 26% tax credit for solar panels. In 2021, there was a 22% tax credit. That begs the question: if consumers weren’t rapidly installing solar panels when they had a 26% tax credit and inflation was lower, why would Americans be incentivized to do so with a 30% tax credit when practically everything costs more money and most folks are living paycheck-to-paycheck?

It seems evident that the big winners of the Inflation Reduction Act aren’t the American people, rather it is the green energy companies that will undoubtedly reap profits if Americans take advantage of the supposedly generous energy-related tax credits.

There is a word for that sort of economic malarkey, and that word is “boondoggle,” as in Biden’s green energy boondoggle is a load of garbage.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Hey Neat, Spend $1,000 On Green Energy And The Feds Will Give You A $300 Tax Credit To Reduce Inflation. Thanks, Biden!