U.S. 参议院准备为汽车业提供更多资金

Senate Democrats have settled on how to funnel more money into the 汽车 sector using all-electric vehicles and environmentalism. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia's Joe Manchin have reportedly agreed on a proposal that would expand the $7,500美元的电动汽车税收抵免，同时还推出了新的4美元,旧车补贴.

但这只是开始. The legislative package is likewise said to include $369 billion that's been earmarked for climate and energy spending. 为汽车制造商, that means massive financial help from the government whenever they want to convert their existing factories into the kind that build all-electric vehicles. 不过这可能并不局限于电动汽车, as the updated language now makes fuel cell vehicles similarly eligible for the proposed industry subsidization.

与 the Biden administration signaling that it will do whatever it takes to electrify American roadways, it's not all that surprising to see allied politicians pushing for expanded tax breaks. 原来的7美元,500 tax credit was implemented in 2010 as a way to help spur EV adoption rates while the technology was in its infancy using a quota system designed to keep things equal among the individual automakers. 理论是, 如果通过税收减免人为降低电动汽车的价格, 更多的人会购买它们.

Tesla was the first company to reach this cap and has been pretty clear that it doesn't want to see things changed. 埃隆·马斯克嘲笑任何扩大或重置信用额度的计划都是不公平的因为它并没有让所有汽车制造商在财务上站稳脚跟. He also came down hard on earlier proposals that additional funding could be set aside for union-built cars, finding an unlikely ally in the Toyota Motor Corp (which had also reached the 200,000辆帽, 以及通用汽车公司). 然而, most manufacturers haven't cried foul at the latest draft because it basically guarantees they'll all be getting free money from the government by doing what they already said they would — building more EVs.

现在坚持更广泛的“清洁汽车”定义,“更新后的税收抵免有一些规定. 首先，它们不能用于内燃机车辆. 第二个, the eligible cars must be built with minerals that are extracted and/or processed in a nation where the US has an existing free trade agreement. 根据 彭博, a "large percentage" of the vehicle's components also need to have been manufactured or assembled within North America.

That provides a decent amount of leeway for automakers and provides some ammunition for those claiming that this is little more than a payout for an industry that 仍然 尽管他们的供应链出现了问题，但他们还是获得了可观的利润. 事实上, critics have noted that the industry's two main drives for swapping to EVs are avoiding regulatory penalties and reducing overhead. 电动汽车的制造通常要少得多, 这意味着汽车公司不必为这么多的人力支付费用.

Ford has recently been hinting that its big push into electrification will come with sizable layoffs, though it's not the first or last business you'll be hearing that from. 当然，前提是你密切关注这个行业. Regular folks are just fed boilerplate lines about environmentalism because it's ultimately more palatable than asserting that corporate executives believe a broader profit margin can be achieved with more EVs and fewer employees. 与此同时, politicians have attempted to downplay the matter by chanting that the transition will result in new, 高薪工作.

他说:“(这项计划)在支持美国工人方面加倍努力, and puts us in the driver’s seat to win the global clean energy race,Debbie Stabenow参议员说, 他是密歇根州民主党人，长期以来一直支持汽车工业, 通过推特说.

你可能已经猜到了, your author is fairly dubious about our collective need for expanded EV tax credits as this already beleaguered world is tossed into another brutal recession. 但 this is also where there Senate's updated proposal starts making a little more sense to me. 经过十多年的批评，7美元,500 credit was effectively just a discount for wealthy people to purchase high-end electric vehicles, 有人很明智地解决了这个问题.

The new deal pitches adding caps based on the suggested retail price of eligible vehicles. Limits would be set at $55,000 for new passenger cars and $80,000 for electrified pickups and SUVs. 同样，税收抵免的上限为150美元,每名纳税人可获000元及300元,000美元用于联合申报. While this does address complaints that it's just rich people benefiting from the tax breaks, it kind of runs counter to the premise that nationwide electrification is all about the environment by prioritizing what will undoubtedly be heavier and less-efficient vehicles.

考虑到森. Joe Manchin — who considers himself a moderate Democrat — had previously said that the continued subsidization of electric vehicles was ludicrous, 令人惊讶的是，国会内部达成了一些共识. 但, 现在他和查克·舒默宣布他们已经达成协议, it's likely that the scaled-back version of Build Back Better (which includes $433 billion in spending for climate change programs, 药品定价改革, 卫生保健规定, and over $300 billion in tax increases) this is attached to will pass with a majority of democrats in Congress.

Industry-backed trade groups are already on board and arguably helped decide what form the proposed legislation would take. 但共和党人似乎对此丝毫不感兴趣, 他说，额外的支出将继续阻碍美国的经济增长.S. 通货膨胀加剧导致经济衰退. Though they probably won't be the group that determines whether the new budgetary bill passes or not — at least not directly. 与 the Senate only needing a simple majority to pass this baby, Sen. 克里斯滕电影院(D-AZ)很可能成为决定性的一票. Her approval would mean Vice President Kamala Harris could pass the bill onto the House of Representatives which is likely to vote yay.