Vance unveils legislation eliminating EV tax credits

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) introduced legislation Thursday that would eliminate federal tax credits for electric vehicles, the latest in a series of Republican salvos against EV technology.

Vance’s bill, first reported by The Daily Caller, would undo several EV credits created or broadened under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the 2022 climate and infrastructure law.

It would also establish a new $7,500 tax credit specifically for American-made gas-powered vehicles.

“Right now, the official policy of the Biden administration is to spend billions of dollars on subsidies for electric vehicles made overseas,” Vance said in a statement. “If we’re subsidizing anything, it ought to be Ohio workers – not the green energy daydreams that are offshoring their jobs to China. We can secure a bright future for American autoworkers by passing this legislation and reversing the misguided policies of the Biden administration.”

The Biden administration has set ambitious goals for reducing carbon emissions, with a target of halving them by the end of the decade. Promotion of electric vehicles has been central to this goal, with the IRA including tax credits of up to $7,500 for new and qualifying EVs.

EV technology has come under attack by Republicans, including former President Trump, whose endorsement was key to Vance’s triumph in the 2022 Ohio GOP primary.

The former president railed against electric cars in a Wednesday night speech at a nonunion auto plant in the Detroit suburbs, telling attendees that EVs “don’t go far enough, and they’re too expensive.”

Both Vance and Trump have also claimed electric vehicle proliferation comes at the expense of United Auto Workers (UAW) members. The union, which has yet to make a 2024 endorsement, has expressed concerns about guarantees that union jobs will be protected in the transition to EVs, as well as over Tesla’s status as both the country’s biggest EV manufacturer and a nonunion company. 

However, UAW President Shawn Fain has vocally criticized Trump’s framing of the issue and praised President Biden for “reject[ing] the false choice between a good job and a green job.”