Lavish U.S. taxpayer financed subsidies for corn-derived ethanol make no sense.
Senator Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Finance Committee has proposed draft legislation that would continue lavish taxpayer financed ethanol subsidies instead of letting them expire at the end of this year.
In an apparent attempt to make the unpalatable politically tasty, Baucus says the credit should be reduced from 45-cents per gallon to only 36-cents per gallon.
Currently U.S. taxpayers are handing agribusiness a subsidy of about $7 billion annually to use corn to make ethanol, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
This federal handout is widely despised by numerous critics since it requires more energy to produce the ethanol than is gained at the fuel pump, thereby increasing energy inefficiency and pollution. It also takes away from food supplies both directly and indirectly since corn is eaten by people and animals raised for food.
Baucus also wants to keep the tariff on imported ethanol at 54-cents per gallon. Critics call this trade barrier unconscionable since it blocks the import of ethanol from Brazil, whose industry is the world’s second largest ethanol producer.
It’s also one of the most cost effective since Brazilian government subsidies for ethanol ended more than a decade and process that uses the sugar cane instead of corn to make Brazilian ethanol is more efficient.
American taxpayers have already spent $41.2 billion since 1980 on tax-based subsidies for ethanol, according to the Senate Energy Committee. This is without question our largest subsidy for renewable energy.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
