Obama for changing the $7,500 tax credit to a tax rebate ?

[evnow]

Politics :twisted:
Here is a perspective.
Tax credit, means I get to keep more of my money.
Tax rebate means I get to keep more of someone else's money.

As usual - politics = lies.

The truth is once someone pays their corporate tax or excise or income tax to the government, it is no longer their money. So, rebate & tax credit are the same - it increases government deficit. The deficit itself is funded either by "printing" money or by borrowing (from Chinese/Japanese !).

 

[AndyH]

Politics :twisted:
Here is a perspective.
Tax credit, means I get to keep more of my money.
Tax rebate means I get to keep more of someone else's money.

As usual - politics = lies.

The truth is once someone pays their corporate tax or excise or income tax to the government, it is no longer their money. So, rebate & tax credit are the same - it increases government deficit. The deficit itself is funded either by "printing" money or by borrowing (from Chinese/Japanese !).

I absolutely cannot agree with this, evnow. Ok, except with the politics=lies part.

Look at the home interest tax deduction for individuals. Why do we get a deduction for mortgage and property taxes? Because the government wants to encourage home ownership. Why? Because they know that for every dollar they 'spend' in deductions they GAIN much more from other parts of the economy. It's not all altruistic - they know full well that they'll have a healthy return on investment!

Same for the EV incentives. One car sale creates cash flow in our economy that spreads much wider than a single car dealer. The Federal government knows full well that they are going to benefit for ~10 years from that incentive.

 

[evnow]

Same for the EV incentives. One car sale creates cash flow in our economy that spreads much wider than a single car dealer. The Federal government knows full well that they are going to benefit for ~10 years from that incentive.

I agree - I was narrowly focusing on the actual rebate/credit itself. The net effect is the same - irrespective of what we call it.

BTW, I've a different take on the larger issue. Considering how the governement functions, it is just a sum of many narrow interests. They pass particular rebate/tax credits because they see an immediate return - to themselfs. They are basically responding to demands by their constituents (which include various industry lobbies). They hope to get re-elected by doing so. No pilitician cares about what happens to the government finances in 10 years. Ofcourse it could also be because of some ego issue or an issue they have long identified or sided with.

Most ironical ones to look at would be expensive large public monuments. A lot of them were extremely unpopular in their day - but today people/governments/businesses continue to reap benefit from them - whether we are talking about Pyraminds, Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower or the Gateway Arch.