There was a long list of provisions that were going to expire on December 31, 2012. Given the huge political mess the last couple weeks, these may have gotten lost in the shuffle. But, instead they were preserved, largely with language in the bill which substituted "December 31, 2013" for the existing expiration dates.
What's important on VisForVoltage is that the electric motorcycle tax credit was extended.
http://www.torquenews.com/1075/fiscal-cliff-bill-preserves-electric-motorcycle-and-other-tax-credits
Senate bill: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr8eas/pdf/BILLS-112hr8eas.pdf
Detailed report here: https://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=4497
The vast majority of the Bush Tax Cuts remain.
The top "0.7%" now pay 40% of the taxes. (a slight increase)
...there's still the debt which they aren't serious about.
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History says that the "middle class" does not want to see their taxes raised in an "honest" way. It's better to decieve the "middle class" by debasing the currency through inflation.
The result is the same... raise taxes or raise inflation... but politically it's easier to avoid blame with inflation.
Given the "impossible" politics these days inflation is a deception that will work.
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History tends to repeat. In the 1940's the debt got out of control and in the 1950's Republicans cut spending and reduced the debt. However, it wasn't long until the "Great Society" drove the debt back up again. It was not until runaway inflation happened in he 1970's that we debased the currency enough to make the debt go away. It was really only AFTER the debt problem was largely solved that Reagan was able to get things back to a solid base again. (a firm currency)
So it's like a big cycle... we (humans) repeat the same mistakes over and over...
The incentive to debase our way out of this will be hard to prevent. (and possibly we should just accept that people prefer being deceived over dealing honestly with the problem)
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As for the "subsidies", yes, it was a perk we kept.
Basically the "pain" was limited to people who will simply dodge the problem with clever tax strategies.
The "cliff" ended up causing much less "pain" than it could have and the whole thing was "political theater" to begin with. Congress is supposed to balance their budgets every year through an orderly democratic process. This whole "crisis for everything" is fake.
Balancing the budget is supposed to be an ordinary duty for Congress.
If you ever hear of a "crisis" in government just assume it's fake.
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David,
One correction on your report: 10% credit is on vehicles with 2.5KWH or higher battery packs not 4.0KWH.
Motorcycles: 2011 ZEV Trail 7100, 84V, 60AH, 60+mph, Cycle Analyst, TNC throttle, modified charger. 2013 Kymco GT300i
Bicycles: 2017 Sondors Thin
Cars: 2016 Leaf SV, 30KWH pack. 2007 CR-V
Solar array: 5KW. Cost per lifetime KWH produced $0.073
Bi