(Washington, D.C.) — North Dakota’s Senators are supporting legislation aiming to repeal federal tax credits for electric vehicles and charging stations. 

Currently, a tax credit of up to $7,500 can be issued to individuals following the purchase of either a qualified plug-in electric vehicle, or fuel cell electric vehicle. The tax credits are estimated to cost approximately $180 billion dollars over the next 10 years, according to Senator Kevin Cramer.

“It’s time we say the quiet part out loud: the market doesn’t want and isn’t buying EVs, these tax credits largely benefit the wealthy by facilitating the sale of expensive EVs, and we’re funneling taxpayer money to a supply chain controlled by China,” said Cramer. “This is a waste of taxpayer money, especially when we’re nearly $35 trillion dollars in debt. Let’s end this electric vehicle agenda nonsense and finally get rid of President Biden’s EV and charging station tax credit scheme once and for all.”

Both Senators Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven signed on to legislation presented by U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) in cosponsoring the Eliminate Lavish Incentives to Electric (ELITE) Vehicles Act. It would aim to repeal the established tax credits for the vehicles and charging stations. 

The tax credits were created under the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. The stated goal of the EV credits is to encourage the adoption of the technology and strengthening of the EV charging industry.

“Since the President took office, EV sales have more than quadrupled, with more than four and a half million EVs on the road. EV ownership is more affordable than ever before, with prices down over 20% from one year ago,” said a statement from the Biden Administration. “The number of publicly available charging ports has also grown by over 70 percent, with 170,000 publicly available EV chargers across the country, putting us on track to deploy 500,000 chargers by 2026 – achieving the President’s goal four years early.”

You can read more from the Biden Administration on their stated goals by clicking here.