Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Post image for Each Chevy Volt Sold Costs Taxpayers Up to $250K, Mackinac Analyst Estimates

James Hohman of Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy estimates that state and federal incentives for GM’s plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Chevy Volt, total $3 billion. That works out to between $50,000 and $250,000 in taxpayer support for each of 6,000 Volts sold so far, “depending on how many of the subsidy milestones are realized.”

The per vehicle subsidy cost is bound to decrease as more Volts are sold and as current subsidies expire.

Nonetheless, as GM acknowledges, the typical Volt purchaser earns $170,000 a year, so it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Volt program is a reverse-Robin Hood wealth tranfer from middle-income households to GM, other big corporations, and high-income auto buyers.

Hohman’s analysis appears below in full. [click to continue…]