Tax Breaks Vs Subsidies for Wyoming Energy

For years, I've been making the case, both on my morning radio talk show and in articles like this, that government subsidies are a bad idea. But tax breaks are a WONDERFUL IDEA!

Wind and solar farms, as examples, should have to make it in the free market just like all of the other energy industries. It's a horrible idea to subsidize electric cars over the traditional internal combustion engine.

When Governor Gordon said that he was in favor of an all of the above approach to energy, my answer was that I was in favor of a free market approach with government out of the way.

Up until now, my fellow conservatives had agreed with me, until this Wyoming legislative session.

President Donald Trump wants U.S. 'energy dominance,' organic fuels like coal, gas, and oil, and he believes that we need a boost from Wyoming taxpayer dollars.

At the same time, they want to end subsidies to wind and solar.

Before I move on let's be clear about some definitions that are often confused. Tax breaks and subsidies are two different things.

Allowing a company to keep the money that it earned doing honest business so it can grow its business is a good thing. It is their money after all. They earned it; it belongs to them.

House Bill 128, 'Enhanced oil recovery-severance tax exemption,' would create a five-year window for a 2% state severance reduction to encourage investments in secondary oil and gas recovery methods. Allowing a company to use the wealth that it created so it can grow its business is a good thing.

A subsidy, on the other hand, is when the government takes money from the taxpayers and gives it to a company. That is picking winners and losers by using money that belongs in the pockets of the people who earn it.

Senate File 123, 'Wyoming energy dominance fund,' AN ACT authorizing grants and loans from funds within the Wyoming energy dominance fund as specified; requiring reports; providing findings; modifying distribution of severance tax revenues; providing for the deposit of funds into the Wyoming energy dominance fund.

The two-year severance tax diversion would fill the Energy Dominance Fund to $105 million.

It's good to have the weight of Biden's big government boot off of our energy industries. But let's not make the same mistakes he made. Tax breaks are fine. But let's not subsidize. Let the free market decide which is the best way forward. That is a strategy that has worked every time it is tried.