Out on the sun-drenched plains east of San Luis Obispo, a Palo Alto-based startup, Ausra Inc., plans to build an enormous array of high-tech mirrors spread over 640 acres. Focusing solar rays on miles of water-filled pipes, the installation will heat enough steam to power turbine generators capable of serving the electricity needs of 60,000 homes, at prices that will soon be competitive with traditional forms of energy.
Ausra is only one of several solar pioneers that Pacific Gas and Electric Company and other utilities are supporting with long-term power contracts. Backed in many cases by Silicon Valley venture investors, they reflect the same spirit of innovation that made California a world leader in electronics and information technology.
Along with equally innovative developers of wind, geothermal, and other forms of renewable power, they are on the forefront of finding solutions to the greatest challenge of our times: reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent runaway global warming.
But their entrepreneurial efforts may be stillborn if Congress fails to extend vital production and investment tax credits that have nurtured the renewable power industry as it works to implement emerging technology and achieve scale economies.
Which of the framers of the Constitution first suggested that the tax code be used to control the behavior of United States citizens?
Where is it written in the Constitution that the Federal Government has the right to manipulate the economic behavior of U.S. citizens by using tax law?
When did the government become our master?
There are over 54,846 pages of “tax code” [figure from 2003] and they are all designed to control our behavior, corporately and individually. The tax code is so complex that it requires 1.2 million paid tax preparers in the country, which is far more than the number of troops in Iraq. There are more than 526 separate tax forms to cater to special interests.
Enough is enough! It is time to do away with the income tax. The income tax provides only about half of U.S. revenue. A flat tax or national sales tax would save us all billions and end the nightmare of the I.R.S.
Vote for anyone except those in either the Republican or Democrat party. Both parties are bad for America. We need a real change.
#1 STN, “A flat tax or national sales tax would save us all billions and end the nightmare of the I.R.S.â€
I’ve lived a long time, but not long enough to have seen the Income Tax first passed. What I have seen over my fifty-nine years of paying income taxes, is how “focus groups†in Congress have manipulated it. Its purpose is absolutely not fairness or for raising money from the general populace, but, like so much that comes out of Washington, this tax is to punish success and reward the majority of voters plus sustaining a huge and powerful government including the IRS.
Why is the economy stagnant today? There are many reasons, not the least of which are “Gorism,†ie, so call “Global Warming†plus our tax system of rewarding underachievers and punishing achievers.
“Global Warming,†like the income tax, is being pushed by “do gooders†like Al Gore, to achieve social purposes and not solve inherent economic weaknesses nor a better environment.
I, more than ninety percent of the U.S. population, want a cleaner, healthier environment. Politicians using taxes to achieve a better quality of life dooms that noble effort to failure from the get go.
thanks for the article. we need to extend just as many accomodations to the renewable energy industry as we have and still are giving away to the oil and gas industry. tit for tat.
Oldman,
My word for the phenom. of climate change hysteria/propaganda is:
“Gorbal Warming”.
I notice that after a cooler than expected winter, all of a sudden the proponents of gorbal warming started refering to “Climate Change” instead. They won’t be swayed by the numerous facts and studies which are disproving their pet theory. Rather they just give their movement a new name and vocabulary and keep on truckin’.
Libraryjim, you can’t keep down those with their snoot in the government trough. Too many of them find it’s better than thinking and working.
What orkish sniping!
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Here is what the United States Supreme Court said about the government’s taxing power in M’Culloch v. Maryland (1819), a unanimous decision rendered one generation after George Washington took the oath of office as the first president:
“The power of taxing the people and their property is essential to the very existence of government, and may be legitimately exercised on the objects to which it is applicable, to the utmost extent to which the government may chuse to carry it.…
“In imposing a tax the legislature acts upon its constituents. This is in general a sufficient security against erroneous and oppressive taxation.”
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“There are over 54,846 pages of ‘tax code'”
The entire Internal Revenue Code fits into a single paperback book you can easily hold between your thumb and forefinger.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Internal-Revenue-Code-January/dp/0781103916/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210905264&sr=1-2
The code would take up 54,846 pages only if drawn in crayon by the people who make statements like that.
#6
“the code has grown into a 67,204-page tangle of giveaways and attempts at social engineering.”
Source: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/04/post_7.html
“The number of pages of federal tax rules and regulations increased from 40,500 in 1995 to 66,498 in 2006…”
Source: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6345
According to the US Government Printing Office, Title 26 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (just the part of the tax code written by the IRS), is twenty volumes and 13,458 pages in total. The full text of Title 26 of the United States Code (including the part written by Congress) is an additional 3,387 printed pages, bringing the adjusted gross page total to 16,845.
BTW…my issue with them isn’t them getting revenue by taxation. My issue is with them manipulating/controlling behavior through the tax code.
Sick and Tired – You don’t seem to complain about the manipulation of the tax code to benefit the coal, oil and gas industry. Nor have I heard of complaints about how the Federal Government provides federal guarantees for insurance on nuclear reactors backed by the US taxpayer? Furthermore, I haven’t heard any complaints about the government regulation of the electric utility industry that allows utilities to continue building power plants and transmission lines to meet a peak capacity when such power plants and transmission lines are utilized at less than 50% capacity factor, and use coal, where fuel costs are raising rates all over the US, paid for by a captive rate base.
We in the renewable industry would prefer not to have tax policy drive interest in renewable energy, but allow the free market to do so. Yet, we do not have anything close to a level playing field. Where is real time pricing? When are utilities going to acknowledge the cost of air pollution, Sox, Nox, particulates, mercury controls, etc? These get buried in the rate base so we all pay for it, but don’t know what the true costs are.
Let’s stop the tax code subsidies and government regulation for all energy sources. Don’t allow utilities to cross-subsidize rates. Furthermore, lets finally deregulate them. Give each energy user the real time true rates for his or her energy. Let’s allow a level playing field for all energy sources. Renewable energy is competitive when we have a level playing field. If the government is going to play favorites, you can hardly blame the renewable industry for asking for its share.
“You don’t seem to complain about the manipulation of the tax code to benefit the coal, oil and gas industry. ”
aldenjr,
Er…what part of “flat tax” and “do away with the income tax” and “national sales tax” was I unclear about?
Other than that, I am in complete agreement with your post.
Great idea, that solar power! Just as long as you have candles or kerosene lamps at night…
Aquila – Maybe you should accompany us on one of our mission trips to Africa where the only electric light and power is derived from solar energy http://www.solarlightforafrica.org The interesting thing is that in Equatorial Africa, where there is absolutely no tax or utility subsidy for any kind of energy source, solar energy is the most competitive form for deriving electric light.