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Tax Day’s Hidden Cost: Biden’s Green Agenda
Most of us would agree, we dread Tax Day, and one of the worst combinations is taxes and energy. We’re already being crushed by inflation—which is driven by higher energy prices. Since Biden took office electricity prices have increased nearly 30%–which is about 50% more than overall inflation. Add taxes to the mix, and energy only gets more expensive. And, a vicious cycle is created for everyday Americans.
Even so, the Biden Administration has decided that taxing energy is a great way to force Americans toward their green-at-all cost agenda:
- In 2021, Biden hiked the “social cost of carbon”—the way the U.S. government calculates the “cost” of climate change—seven times higher than the number used by the Trump Administration.
- At the beginning of 2024, a fee included in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act on certain methane emissions took effect—the first U.S. federal-level effort to price greenhouse gas emissions.
- Just last week, Biden’s green bureaucrats implemented new rules that will make it harder to build affordable natural gas power plants AND raised royalty rates (note: that’s government speak for a tax) for oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
Meanwhile, Biden is also propping up his so-called green energy agenda with subsidies that come out of taxpaying Americans’ pockets. Here are some facts from energy expert Robert Bryce:
- So-called green energy like wind and solar will collect a staggering $424.6 billion in tax credits over the next decade—an increase of 21 times what the credits were in 2015.
- The tax credit received by energy sources like wind and solar are the most expensive energy-related loopholes in the tax code, followed by the 10-year cost of tax credits for “clean vehicles.”
- Over the next decade, the cost of “green” tax credits will be 20 times more than the credits received by oil and gas producers.
Life is already costly enough for American families and businesses. The last thing we need is a President putting bad tax policy on the very energy we need to keep our lives going. For more information about the damaging costs of mixing energy and taxes, check out the TEA factsheet here.