Obama Favors Wind Energy Tax Credit while Romney Spokesperson calls Iowa Wind Jobs a ‘boondoggle.’
There’s a long history of government creating positive environments through tax credits and even outright subsidizing new energy sources. This happens and has happened with everything from coal, to oil, to solar, nuclear, and wind. This is because energy is a magnifier: you add cheap energy to the US economy and you create more jobs than just those in the energy sector. Romney’s energy austerity campaign is not going to win hearts and minds in Iowa.
The lines are now drawn on a political hot button in Iowa: a lucrative tax break for wind energy.
Mitt Romney is against it, President Barack Obama favors it — opposing stances that could have political and economic implications in Iowa, which has more wind energy jobs than any other state in the nation.
The wind production tax credit is big deal because it bolsters the market for more turbines and towers.
Advocates for the tax break say jobs would be at risk if it disappears. Critics of the tax break, which will cost the federal government $1.6 billion this year, say it’s time for energy producers to make it on their own without government subsidies.
Romney aides spelled out the GOP presidential candidate’s position in a statement Monday, drawing criticism from at least one Republican elected official in Iowa.
Shawn McCoy, a spokesman for Romney’s Iowa campaign, told The Des Moines Register, “He will allow the wind credit to expire, end the stimulus boondoggles, and create a level playing field on which all sources of energy can compete on their merits.
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