Just like Muslims proclaim their faith with two fundamentals ("there is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet), Republicans have two fundamental beliefs above all others. Tax cuts pay for themselves, and tax cuts fix everything. For example, is unemployment high? The fix, of course, is a tax cut. Is the government running a deficit? Fix it with tax cuts. Is the government running too big of a surplus (yes, that was a Democrat-caused "problem" George Bush and the Republican majority "fixed" with tax cuts). Are businesses not bringing back overseas profits? Cut their taxes.
Well, apparently NOT all tax cuts are good fixes for whatever ails you. In Georgia the legislature cut taxes on purchases of electric vehicles a couple of years back. Since Georgia is a deep red state, cutting taxes, on anything really, is no surprise. What is surprising is that just after a few years and wild success in promoting electric cars with this tax credit, Republicans now want to RAISE taxes on electric vehicle purchasers.
The only thing they can't agree on is when and by how much to raise it. More over the orange whatchamacallit.
Green Car Reports notes in "Fight to Watch: Georgia Plans to Alter Electric Car Tax Credit" (http://www.greencarreports.com/...)
Over the last two years, the metropolitan Atlanta area has become one of the single best sales regions for the Nissan Leaf electric car.
That's due to a $5,000 Georgia state tax credit for the purchase of a battery-electric vehicle, which can be used to cut state income-tax liability over one, two, or three years.
This is one time the Republican mantra that tax cuts is the cure for all ills turns out to be true. Of course, it's an ill most Republicans don't believe even exists: Global Climate Change. But the tax cut has had a spectacular success in promoting electric cars, particularly the less expensive ones like the Nissan Leaf.
According to William Cook of the state's Environmental Protection Division, 132 credit certificates were approved in 2012, rising to 1,372 in 2013.
Through September of this year, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4,591 electric-car certificates had been issued.
The Republican leading the fight to raise taxes is Chuck Martin. You can find out more about him here (
http://ballotpedia.org/.... ). He ran unopposed in the Republican primary and in the general election. In his own words (in case the very idea of a Republican proposing to RAISE taxes stretches your credulity too much):
Martin told the Journal-Constitution that he hopes to engage in discussions over the credit that could produce "revision, reduction, or phased elimination of the credit or just sunset at some future time.”
Martin reportedly supported Tesla in resisting the anti-competitive moves of car dealers to ban Tesla's dealer-less sales model. So taking the tax credit away from Tesla and other electric car buyers could be defended as simply wanting all car purchases treated the same way.
But before you leap to the conclusion that Martin is a non-typical Republican, don't forget that a $5,000 dollar tax credit to a Tesla buyer willing to plunk down $80,000 for a Model S is probably far less significant than $5,000 dollar tax credits to someone only able to afford a $30,000 dollar Leaf with the Federal credit of $7,500 boosted by the Georgia credit (for a net outlay of $22,500 for the Leaf).
Turns out Martin, like every other Republican, is really out to screw the less well off, even if they apparently have to deny one of the fundamentals of their tax-cutting faith to do it. But I don't really think they are sincere about tax-cutting being the fundamental core of their faith. Tax credits and cuts, after all, only apply to those with enough wealth to pay taxes. Republicans have managed to so impoverish people with their favor the rich policies that nearly half the American population makes too little to even owe Federal taxes. That's one reason Republicans LOVE a sales tax, the most unfair tax on the books. It takes more of the income of the poorest, and applies no matter how little they have to spend.
So Martin's apparent apostasy really is no such thing. The real call to faith of Republicans, and one they consistently apply in all cases, can be summarized as: Screw the Poor.