Green Subsidies Bill Perfectly Illustrates Washington’s Spending Addiction

[Geee]

Heritage Foundation:

Christmas came early last year for green companies looking for Washington handouts after Congress passed legislation extending massive subsides for wind, solar, and other renewable energy companies. Now the Senate is attempting to ensure that Christmas comes again for these same companies by expanding the qualifying sources for green goodies.

 

Free enterprise, not the federal government, drives energy innovation.

 

Some senators are under the impression that energy subsides help spur “innovation.” They want to therefore attach targeted tax breaks for renewable energy sources as part of legislation to reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. The tax credits benefit companies producing energy from fuel cells, geothermal, biomass, combined heat and power systems, and small wind power.

 

The problem with this is that free enterprise, not the federal government, drives energy innovation.

 

Proponents of the subsidies are arguing that they were mistakenly left out of the massive omnibus spending bill that included five-year extensions for the wind production tax credit and solar investment tax credit, as well as $1.00-per-gallon tax credits for biodiesel.