{"id":10773,"date":"2011-12-21T20:33:41","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T01:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=10773"},"modified":"2011-12-21T20:33:41","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T01:33:41","slug":"chevy-volt-costing-taxpayers-up-to-250k-per-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/12\/chevy-volt-costing-taxpayers-up-to-250k-per-vehicle.html","title":{"rendered":"Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Analyst: ‘This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant’<\/h1>\n
By\u00a0Tom Gantert<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it \u2013 a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.<\/p>\n

Hohman looked at total state and federal assistance offered for the development and production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors\u2019 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.\u00a0His\u00a0analysis\u00a0included\u00a018 government deals that included loans, rebates, grants and tax credits. The amount of government assistance does not include the fact that General Motors is currently\u00a026 percent owned<\/a>\u00a0by the federal government.<\/p>\n

The Volt subsidies flow through\u00a0multiple companies involved in\u00a0production. The analysis includes adding up the amount of government subsidies via tax credits and direct funding for not only General Motors, but other companies supplying parts for the vehicle. For example, the Department of Energy awarded a\u00a0$105.9 million<\/a>\u00a0grant to the GM Brownstown plant that assembles the batteries. The company was also awarded approximately\u00a0$106 million<\/a>\u00a0for its Hamtramck assembly plant in state credits to retain jobs. The company that supplies the Volt\u2019s batteries, Compact Power, was awarded up to\u00a0$100 million<\/a>\u00a0in refundable battery credits (combination tax breaks and cash subsidies). These are among many of the subsidies and tax credits for the vehicle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely that all the companies involved in\u00a0Volt production\u00a0will ever receive all the $3 billion in incentives, Hohman said, because many of them are linked to meeting\u00a0various\u00a0employment and other milestones. But the analysis looks at the total value that has been offered to the Volt in different aspects of production \u2013 from the assembly line to the dealerships to the battery manufacturers.\u00a0Some tax credits and subsidies are offered for periods up to 20 years, though most\u00a0have a\u00a0much shorter time frame.<\/p>\n

GM has estimated they\u2019ve\u00a0sold 6,000 Volts<\/a>\u00a0so far. That would mean each of the 6,000 Volts sold would be subsidized between $50,000 and $250,000, depending on how many government subsidy milestones\u00a0are realized.<\/p>\n

If battery manufacturers\u00a0awarded incentives to produce batteries the Volt may use are included in the analysis, the\u00a0potential government subsidy per Volt increases to $256,824. For example, A123 Systems has received extensive state and federal support, and bid to be a supplier to the Volt, but the deal instead went to Compact Power. The $256,824\u00a0figure includes adding up the subsidies to both companies.<\/p>\n

The $3 billion total subsidy figure includes $690.4 million offered by the state of Michigan and $2.3 billion in federal money. That\u2019s enough to purchase 75,222 Volts with\u00a0a sticker price of $39,828<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Additional state and local\u00a0support provided to Volt suppliers was not included in the analysis, Hohman said, and could increase the level of government aid. For instance, the Volt is being assembled at the\u00a0Poletown plant<\/a>\u00a0in Detroit\/Hamtramck, which was built on land acquired by General Motors through eminent domain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just goes to show\u00a0 there are certain folks that will spend anything to get their vision of what people should do,\u201d said State Representative Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills. \u201cIt\u2019s a glaring example of the failure of central planning trying to force citizens to purchase something they may not want. \u2026 They should let the free market make those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis might be the most government-supported car since the\u00a0Trabant<\/a>,\u201d said Hohman, referring to the car produced by the former Communist state of East Germany.<\/p>\n

According to GM CEO Dan Akerson, the average Volt owner\u00a0makes $170,000 per year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.michigancapitolconfidential.com\/16192<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analyst: ‘This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant’ By\u00a0Tom Gantert Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it \u2013 a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,556,3100,486,599,485,557,435,1871,1367,701,704,223,550,1867,3382,421,1121,1922,705,885,1680,1498,1430,35,68,450,434,3121,176,429,156,1920,484,101,14,1516,133,2838,806],"tags":[3874,3875,3209,442,436,3873],"class_list":["post-10773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-auto-industry","category-big-brother-is-here","category-big-business","category-big-government","category-big-lobby","category-business","category-communism","category-constitutional-unconstitutional","category-deceptions-and-lies","category-democrats","category-economics","category-economy","category-entitlements","category-evil-plot","category-evil-vs-good","category-extreme-environmentalism","category-failed-policies","category-global-warming-globalony","category-government-2","category-government-waste","category-injustice","category-insanity","category-news-2","category-obama","category-political-correctness","category-politics","category-propaganda","category-radical-change-towards-tyranny-dictatorship","category-recession","category-society","category-take-action","category-taking-america-back","category-taxes-2","category-tea-party","category-u-s-congress","category-u-s-debt","category-unions","category-wake-up-america","category-warning","tag-26-owned-by-fed-govt","tag-6000-volts-sold","tag-chevy-volt","tag-general-motors","tag-gm","tag-government-motors"],"yoast_head":"\nChevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/12\/chevy-volt-costing-taxpayers-up-to-250k-per-vehicle.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Analyst: ‘This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant’ By\u00a0Tom Gantert Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it \u2013 a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/12\/chevy-volt-costing-taxpayers-up-to-250k-per-vehicle.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-22T01:33:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.michigancapitolconfidential.com\/media\/images\/2011\/chevyvolt.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Calvin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle - 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