Photo above – Elon Musk, planet earth's richest primate, got $500 million in government credits and subsidies over the past 3 months.
If you’re cheering that Tesla made $1 billion in the second quarter, you can cut it out. Half of that was from the US government. In the form of tax credits for EV purchases, and Tesla selling its “green credits” to other automakers to help them comply with government emission regulations. See link at bottom.
I was always aware of the absurd tax credits that allow rich(ish) people to buy Teslas and other EVs,, and I'm subsidizing their rides with my own taxes. But the regulatory credits (similar to carbon credits) weren’t on my radar scope. The way it works is simple though. Tesla earns regulatory credits out the wazoo because it makes no ICE vehicles at all. And then it SELLS those credits to GM, Ford, and whoever else needs them to show them on their balance sheet. It’s cheaper to buy Tesla’s credits than produce EVs on your own, clearly.
This revelation comes on the heels of my earlier column this week, where The Telegraph calculated that Ford loses $47,640 on every EV sold. How’d they come up with that number? Simply long division: they took the Ford EV subsidiary's net losses, and divided them by the number of EVs Ford actually sold. Consult your 5th grade math teacher if this is confusing.
Some EV defenders were screaming and yelling that “of course Ford is losing its shirt on EV – those factories and tech are brand new, and production numbers are low.” Um . . . no, actually. That’s not how factories and tech patents work. You don’t get to expense them in year 1. You have to amortize them over 10-20-25 years. Consult any corporate tax accountant if you think I’m mistaken.
This is where someone who barely pays any taxes jumps up and says $500 million is “chump change”. These are people who don’t even have $500 in their checking accounts, so of course they’re financial wizards, right?
Tesla has been making cars for two decades now. And they’re STILL getting multiple flavors of government assistance. And we’re still paying for it, on Tax Day, and when the national debt goes up. When do we get to cut the cord on this scam? Elon Musks net worth is $200 billion, making him the richest person on earth. I’ve had enough of this BS . . .
I’m just sayin’ . .
~Half Of Teslas Q2 Profit Came From Your Taxes (jalopnik.com)~
It’s worse than anyone could have imagined. Half of Tesla’s profits come from government subsidies and credits.
byu/baltimore-aureole ineconomy
by baltimore-aureole
2 comments
And this is news?
FAKE FUD ALERT! All Manufacturers that make EV’s get these credits as incentive to fight climate change. Tesla was simply the first and most successful. Selling the most popular EV on the planet, the Model Y understandably nets them more credits. All of the other companies are trying desperately to become tesla and sell competing EV’s. Tesla never needed or wanted this free money. If the govt is shoving this money into their pockets they don’t have to refuse it.