By JOHN NOLTE
The Biden administration says parts of Martha’s Vineyard qualify for low-income electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.
“Numerous elite hangouts and locales — including Montauk and Fishers Island in New York, and parts of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts — are among the areas” that the Biden administration says qualify as “low-income” and are therefore “eligible for receipt of EV charger subsidies,” the Daily Caller reported on January 31.
The White House explained the tax subsidy this way:
This tax credit provides up to 30% off the cost of the charger to individuals and businesses in low-income communities and non-urban areas, making it more affordable to install EV charging infrastructure and increasing access to EV charging in underserved communities.
The Daily Caller pointed out that to meet the “low income” definition, a “Census tract must have a poverty rate of 20% or more.” The loophole being used to qualify some of the wealthiest places in the country is found in the following: “An area can qualify if the median family income is below 80% of the median family income in the wider metropolitan area or in its state if a given Census tract is not part of any particular metropolitan area.”
The Daily Caller explained:
In practice, however, the latter definition for a “low-income” area enables places that may not be colloquially considered “low-income” to qualify for the credit by virtue of being located in a wealthy state or metropolitan area.
For example, nearly half of the landmass of Nantucket Island, one of the ritziest summer vacation destinations favored by New England’s elite, is eligible for EV charger subsidies, according to the DOE’s interactive eligibility map.
Also eligible are pockets of Cape Cod, including the ritzy Hyannis, all of the exclusive Fishers Island, much of Montauk, a three-block area of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, “large swaths of San Francisco,” and “several blocks of the renowned Beverly Hills.”
