GOP lawmaker seeks to slam brakes on Biden’s ‘woke and wasteful’ EV tax credit

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are taking steps to repeal the “climate-crazed” Biden administration’s tax credit for electric vehicles (EVs) that “ran up the bill on the American people to the tune of billions of dollars,” Fox News Digital learned exclusively.

Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, on Friday will introduce the Eliminating Lavish Incentives to Electric Vehicles Act, a bill that aims to eliminate the Biden-era tax credit for new and used EVs and slash “woke and wasteful spending.”

“Under President Biden and the most climate-crazed administration in the history of our country, Democrats ran up the bill on the American people to the tune of billions of dollars, strapping tax subsidies for expensive electric vehicles to the failed Inflation Reduction Act,” Arrington, who currently serves as chair of the House Budget Committee, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

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Former President Joe Biden implemented a tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of EVs under the Inflation Reduction Act in an effort to push auto buyers to select greener alternatives.

However, President Donald Trump has been walking back the Biden-era green energy policies, and the Republican-led Congress is seeking to end the use of taxpayer dollars for EV purchases.

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Arrington’s legislation aims to stop taxpayer money from subsidizing the purchase of luxury electric vehicles and close the “loophole” that allows for individuals to get a tax credit for leasing an EV.

“I will remain on mission to repeal Green New Deal climate handouts along with other woke and wasteful spending programs while we restore fiscal sanity, reignite prosperity, and Make America Great Again,” the congressman said.

Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, leaves the House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, May 16, 2018. (Getty Images)

The bill, joined by several members of the Ways and Means Committee, aligns with an executive order recently issued by Trump ending Biden’s mandate that 50% of all new car sales be EVs by 2030. 

Amid rumblings that Trump was considering eliminating the EV credit in November, Tim Stewart, president of the U.S. Oil & Gas Association, a group promoting public policy on behalf of the natural gas industry, suggested that behind the scenes, automotive groups and consumers could feel relieved if the EV credit was repealed.

“Losing $70,000 on an EV is not a winning business model and U.S. automakers know that,” Stewart told Fox News Digital. “The EV tax credit was the only way to entice consumers to ‘maybe’ purchase something they really didn’t want, but told by the Biden folks they had to buy.” 

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order recently ending former President Joe Biden’s mandate that 50% of all new car sales be electric vehicles by 2030. (Scott Olson)

Stewart said axing the EV tax credit gives members of the auto industry the opportunity to shift back to traditional production lines.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is heading Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, revealed in July that he supports getting rid of the credit. “Take away the subsidies,” Musk posted to X, saying “it will only help Tesla.”

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Companies that are financially sound, such as Tesla, could benefit if the playing field for electric vehicles is narrowed, while the smaller companies that rely on the tax credit for consumer affordability could face setbacks, analysts have suggested.