After blowback for being supremely stupid, Democrat state lawmakers have backed off their plan to ban the sale of lawnmowers and other gas-powered lawn equipment along the northern Front Range.
Instead, Democrats are going to spend millions in taxpayer dollars that incudes tax incentives for low and moderate income earners to scrap theirs in favor of expensive electric-powered implements.
Bonus, government spending adds to inflation.
A Democrat House leader was overheard saying, “We are scrapping the lawnmower bill in favor of something more effective and cuter. The new bill will include tax incentives for buying goats, and we will create a cap-and-trade market for goat sh*t.”#copolitics #coleg #9news https://t.co/a7vQ9PH0I3
— 9mm News (@News9mm) March 16, 2022
But seriously, The Colorado Sun reports:
State Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill, said he removed the ban to instead focus on the provisions in the bill incentivizing people to switch to electric-powered lawn equipment through tax credits.
“The incentives for purchases are really the meat of that section,” he said. “I think we’re going to have a nice set of carrots.”
According to the financial review of the bill by Legislative Counsel Staff, the bill as originally written would cost taxpayers $744,000 the first year and $1.6 million in future years.
The average tax credit value will be about $46 per piece of electric lawn or garden equipment purchased, but the average credit amount will vary significantly depending on the type of equipment purchased, ranging from about $1,050 for an electric ride-on mower to $30 for an electric trimmer. The fiscal note assumes that all taxpayers will claim the full value of this tax credit in the year that the purchase occurs. To the extent that some taxpayers do not have sufficient tax liability to claim the full credit, the reduction in revenue will be delayed or reduced entirely if taxpayers cannot claim the full credit within the five-year carry-forward period.
The radical Green Dealers will be very unhappy that Democrats have denied this sacrifice to their Climate Change Gods.
They will not be happy until all implements that use fossil fuel are banished from their Utopia, and air travel is replaced with hot air balloons.
