By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Illinois lawmakers are at it again, picking winners and losers, this time in the state’s manufacturing sector.
The “Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act” that lawmakers passed last week provides a new set of giveaways to the electric vehicle industry: a series of subsidies and tax breaks for electric vehicle and parts manufacturers.
The hubris of Illinois politicians never ceases to amaze. The same group of politicians who have run this state into the ground with decades of bad decisions somehow think they know which industries – and which players – are going to succeed or fail. And they do it all at taxpayer expense. The new law says:
“It is the intent of the General Assembly that Illinois should lead the nation in the production of electric vehicles. The General Assembly finds that, through investments in electric vehicle manufacturing, Illinois will be on the forefront of emerging technologies that are currently transforming the auto manufacturing industry.”
Lawmakers are counting on an EV manufacturing powerhouse emerging around the Rivian plant in Normal, Illinois, as well as improved prospects for the Ford factory in South Chicago and the Stellantis plant near Rockford.
Illinois politicians want a manufacturing win since their labor, tax and fiscal policies have undoubtedly played a role in crippling the state’s manufacturing recovery. Illinois is the only state among its neighbors to still have fewer manufacturing jobs today when compared to the end of the Great Recession in June 2009. Illinois is down more than 17,000 jobs since then, while states like Indiana and Michigan have grown their manufacturing bases by 107,000 and 141,000 workers, respectively.
What’s also notable is how spending taxpayer dollars on a media- and activist-friendly industry can bring lawmakers from both sides of the aisle together. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and with only two no votes (Dems) in the House. After all, promoting the EV industry is an easy way for politicians to showcase their desire for job creation and to prove their green-energy bona fides.
And how much money in giveaways are we talking about? As usual, no one seems to know.
There’s no public fiscal note nor any private legislative analysis of the cost that we could get our hands on. And related news pieces on the bill have nothing more specific than the potential subsidies running into the “hundreds of millions” of dollars range.
Here’s just a short list of what the state is offering to EV-related companies:
- State income tax credits of 75 percent for up to 15 years for new workers (100 percent for facilities in “underserved areas.”)
- State income tax credits of up to 50 percent if companies hire a certain number of new workers and make additional capital investments.
- Sales and utility tax exemptions for companies that are building new facilities.
- State income tax credits for the construction workers building new facilities.
- Additional income tax credits for employee training costs.
Don’t forget, all this is coming right after the passage in Illinois of the massive green-energy package that, among many other things, provided tax credits to some Illinoisans who purchase electric vehicles. Vehicles that, in turn, will have to be charged up with electricity, the cost of which will be rising thanks to that same green energy law.
Illinois’ renewed focus on support and subsidies for everything green fits right into the spending priorities of the federal government.
“Government Motors Is Back,” the WSJ editorial board recently wrote regarding the billions in taxpayer subsidies for electric vehicles and other projects contained in President Biden’s proposed spending bill.
At every level, the green gravy train rolls on with no end in sight – and taxpayers can do nothing but get run over by it.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- A Blood-Boiling Performance By Illinois Lawmakers To Ensure Punishment Of Vax Mandate Resisters
- Obscene giveaway to school employees being rammed through Illinois legislature will slam district budgets
- Employers are desperate for workers, but Chicago to launch money-for-nothing ‘guarantied basic income’ program
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
they should have “picked” futuregen years ago. But this is a democrap state and that was GW’s thing
Preaching to the choir….right to work laws would probably attract more manufacturing but obviously that is not feasible especially when the state is working to further strengthen the power of “big labor”.
Striving to be the state manufacturing anything at all should be the goal, not picking out one narrow “darling” industry dujour. Getting manufacturing plants that are big always starts with low cost and dependable electricity. Next it needs a workforce educated in making things, engineering, physics, math, and trades talent, not indoctrinated in CRT. Illinois can have a lot going for it, logistically its in the middle of the country with rail and sea access, but it does stupid things with roads like killing the Illini Tollway project. It can have cheap and abundant electricity, but it treats ComEd like… Read more »
Samsung is considering building a battery plant in Illinois. How does that jive with JB’s clean energy plan? It’s one thing to run electric vehicles, it’s another to import the toxic elements and deal with the waste of manufacturing the batteries that power those vehicles. It’s too bad no one in the media will challenge JB on his how he reconciles the environment with his jobs plan.
JB funnels the media hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign advertising. Of his own personal cash. More than any other governor in IL history.
No one challenges him for fear of losing that $$$$. Campaign season cash is not insignificant.
Electric vehicles run on electricity, which must be available 24/7. How’s that demand going to be met? With wind? Half a million politicians bloviating around one windmill aren’t going to generate half an iota of energy. Solar? The Midwest tends to have many cloudy days, so even improved generation may not answer the need. Improved nuclear – from which France is said to generate 75% of its electricity – might work. But wait! Illinois is closing its nuclear plants. No relief there. How about all of the state’s politicians running on treadmills, just like hamsters? At least they’d be useful… Read more »
have you seen many of our politicians?-most of them couldnt run from their parked car to the front door of Burger King,oh wait,unless their was a sale on Whoppers with extra cheese,then most of them would probably outrun Usain Bolt
Coal powered electric cars.
Rivian didn’t choose Illinois inasmuch as they chose a relatively recently closed automobile assembly plant that just happened to be in Illinois. I mean what other options were there, maybe Michigan or Ohio?
They are planning a massive plant expansion in Normal at the old Mitsubishi plant. Without looking at numbers, it’s hard to say what’s good or bad at this point. But it definately is crony capitalism, which many establishment Republicans like. Rivians product is expensive and targeted at the affluent, childless younger people – it’s a toy. Meanwhile working people in Illinois struggle to pay for gas in their 10 year old cars, struggle to pay for groceries, struggle to pay high property taxes. Seems no Democrat or Republican in Illinois is much worried about them.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for Rivian. I want them to succeed and expand. I’m just saying if the Bloomington plant was still churning out sub-par Jeeps and the Subaru plant in Indiana had just shuttered, then Rivian would’ve chosen Indiana.
Outside of state incentives offered during the Rauner administration, the state (and JB) has done nothing to contribute to the success of Rivian and has merely ridden the current wave of the EV market.
Probably so on the location. Although as I mentioned on Rivians target market for the +$70k EV, most will be sold into CA and West Coast, followed by UT, CO, and TX. IL does have good access to rail headed west through Missouri and Nebraska. Rivian is vertically integrated, so they needed a corn field location to expand out. These things of course can all change. Everyone was shocked when Mitsubishi left.