Party should leave you sick
The Lima News | February 28, 2015 | www.limaohio.com
I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider it a “donation” when I rightly pay my taxes to the government, and I don’t throw a media party when it happens. Come to think about it, I don’t know of any employer doing the same; however, the NW Ohio wind industry makes the news at this time every year.
How can they do this?
The county commissioners gave them a Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes, so they are truly giving a “donation”’ instead of paying taxes. When these industrial wind sites went online, Iberdrola received approximately $173 million dollars from a federal 1603 grant. Because of this grant, they were also exempt from paying federal taxes, so it is actually worth well over $200 million dollars. In addition, we also gave them the following:
• A Federal loan guarantee program, lowering their borrowing rate and leaving us with the risk of default.
• Industry-specific five year double declining balance depreciation.
• Renewable electricity markets, funded by us, the ratepayers.
• Free reign to lower our property values and property enjoyment.
• No penalties, when it fails to deliver the electricity, it promised, to PJM in the capacity auctions. No other energy producers have this same deal.
• Money for every kWh of electricity they generate.
Some have referred to this scheme as the ‘reverse Robin Hood’ effect or the taking of money from the poor to give to the few who are rich (wind industry).Warren Buffet said it best, last year, “… we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”
I guess if any of us were treated the same, we might consider throwing a media party, too.
— Dawn Davis, Spencerville
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/03/01/party-should-leave-you-sick/