A Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric vehicle charges at a public charging station in 2021. Photo by Christopher Furlong | Getty Images
Filing taxes is stressful even in the best of situations. It’s especially stressful for many this year, thanks to President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts of tax credits that helped many Americans save billions of dollars in the past few years.
As a bilingual Certified Public Accountant and financial adviser in Phoenix, I’ve helped numerous clients take advantage of clean energy tax credits and rebates. I’ve seen firsthand the impact of climate-related price increases on residents already struggling with climate-influenced costs, including rising insurance rates, increased cooling costs and growing inflation.
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In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act created or enhanced more than 20 clean energy-related tax credits. If left untouched by Trump, this legislation is projected to lower electricity rates by up to 9% by 2030. The plan includes both tax credits that reduce Americans’ tax burdens and rebates, which discount the price of many of the same products and services also eligible for tax credits.
More than 3 million families have already saved more than $8.4 billion thanks to energy upgrades and will save $38 billion on electricity bills by 2030 — if we stay on track. But if Trump kills clean energy investments, Americans will pay more.
For example, take electric vehicle (EV) tax credits. The Inflation Reduction Act includes multiple investments to support the growth of the electric vehicle industry and help consumers, including a tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of qualified new EVs, and a tax credit of up to $4,000 for the purchase of certain used EVs.
EV tax credits directly support American workers by driving the production of electric vehicles and their components in the United States, creating high-quality jobs that remain at home. The U.S. has seen double-digit growth of EV sales year over year, bolstering the manufacturing sectors and ensuring long-term job stability for auto workers and suppliers. Arizona is quickly becoming a leader in EV and EV battery manufacturing.
Investments in EVs and clean energy more broadly have sparked over 400,000 new jobs across the country, including thousands in Arizona, while lowering energy costs and bringing more energy online — which the country desperately needs. Eliminating these investments will increase costs, send good-paying jobs overseas, and take critical energy sources offline. Without a thriving clean energy industry, Arizonans will be left with higher energy costs and more unreliable energy grids.
A number of recent studies have highlighted how getting rid of clean energy tax credits will raise energy costs for Arizonans. The Clean Energy Buyers Association, for instance, released a report that found that repealing clean energy tax credits would lead to average residential electricity prices in Arizona increasing by over 7% by 2026. Energy Innovation released a report that estimated that repealing clean energy provisions would increase average annual household energy costs in Arizona by $210 by 2030.
Eliminating these programs would strip Arizona of over $200 million and raise costs for families. The Home Energy Rebates program provides up to $14,000 per household, saves Americans $1 billion annually and supports 50,000 jobs. Cutting it would cost Arizona $153 million. The Weatherization Assistance Program helps low-income households save $372 a year, and eliminating it means a $48 million loss. That’s higher bills, fewer resources — money that Trump shouldn’t take from our state.
While some of these clean energy tax credits are still in place, Rewiring America can help you calculate what tax credits you’re eligible for while the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program lets you look up specific products, like refrigerators and dishwashers, to see if they’re eligible for rebates. At the same time, urge your representative not to let Trump roll back these benefits along with much of the progress our country has made in transitioning to clean energy, bringing more money and jobs to our state.4
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