CA To 'Intervene' If Trump Kills $7,500 Tax Credits

CALIFORNIA — The Golden State is poised to offer state tax rebates for residents purchasing electric vehicles if President-elect Donald Trump kills an existing federal EV tax credit, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.

The announcement comes as the governor prepares to shield the state from the incoming Republican administration.

"We will intervene if the Trump Administration eliminates the federal tax credit, doubling down on our commitment to clean air and green jobs in California," Newsom said on Monday.

California's EV rebate program was phased out in 2023, but Newsom is preparing to create a new version. The previous program funded more than 594,000 vehicles, the state said.

Such tax credits are intended to reduce the sticker price for new vehicles. The state's previous program offered rebates as high as $2,500.

Similarly to the state's old program, money for the rebates could come from the state's Greenhouse Gas Reduction fund, which is funded by "polluters under the state's cap-and-trade program," according to Newsom's statement.

No other details on the proposed rebates were announced on Monday morning, including how much the rebates would be or how they would work. The governor is expected to speak on economic development in Kern County on Monday at 11 a.m. and could release more information there.

"We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future — we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute," Newsom said.

In the third quarter of 2024, Californians bought 115,897 electric vehicles. That's 26.4% of all new vehicle sales in the state, Newsom's office announced.

Due to the influx of EVs on the road, the state says it has worked to ramp up its EV infrastructure by installing 150,000 public or shared private EV chargers and 500,000 at-home chargers.

Some $32 million in federal funding has gone toward maintaining 458 direct-current fast chargers along interstates and highways. Plus, the state was recently approved to spend $81.7 million in federal funding to improve EV infrastructure.

"Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong – zero-emission vehicles are here to stay," Newsom said.

Earlier this month, Newsom called for a special legislative session to get a jump on the work of making laws “Trump-proof” in the nation's most populous state.

The Legislature is expected to meet in December to give the attorney general's office more funding to fight federal battles, though no specifics were given.

“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom said in a statement earlier this month.