Permanent Tax Subsidy? Solar’s 15 extensions
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 4, 2024
“But nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” (Milton and Rose Friedman, Tyranny of the Status Quo, 1983, p. 115)
“The infant industry argument is a smoke screen. The so-called infants never grow up.” (Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose, 1979, p. 49)
What was said in a previous post regarding wind power’s 14 extensions of the Production Tax Credit also applies to solar power’s Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and its preceding tax favors. From 1978 to the present (46 years), 15 extensions belie the industry’s age-old claims of almost being competitive. Remember the New York Times’ declaration in 1994 (per Enron) that solar was “competitive” with fossil fuels? Remember Solyndra? Joe Romm in 2011: “It is clear that solar and wind are competitive in many situations right now.”
Solar is not an infant industry, having been demonstrated as grid electricity in the nineteenth century and again during World War II. But it is dilute and intermittent, fatal qualities as against fossil-fuel-generated electricity.
A legislative review (source: Congressional Research Service) of the solar tax subsidy reveals fifteen (15) legislative extensions from 1978 to 2022 with the current law extending to 2035 (57 years). A dividing point is the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which tripled solar’s credit (and put wind back into business after a short expiration).
https://www.masterresource.org/solar-power-issues/permanent-subsidy-solars-itc-6-extensions/
