If ever there has been a federal subsidy that ought to be abandoned — along with other wasteful, unconstitutional subsidies — it is the subsidy for corn-based ethanol.
The federal government uses your tax dollars to pay producers 45 cents for every gallon of ethanol they make. Then it requires that a certain percentage of our nation’s fuel be made up of ethanol. That’s why you see notices on gas pumps stating that part of the fuel is ethanol.
But the cost does not end with taxpayer subsidies. Ethanol also raises food costs because it diverts so much corn from food production to fuel production. The reduced corn supply drives up the prices of foods ranging from corn-fed beef to products made with corn syrup.
Ethanol also reduces gas mileage and harms engines — yet lobbyists are trying to increase the amount of ethanol that would be blended with gasoline to go in your tank!
Why does Congress force all those negative consequences on the American people? Well, farm state lawmakers have a lot of pull and can buy votes back home by approving and extending ethanol subsidies.
Unfortunately, President Barack Obama recently assured farm states that the rest of America will remain on the hook for the subsidies. On a swing through the Midwest, he “reaffirmed the goal of tripling U.S. ethanol production in 12 years …,” The Associated Press reported.
The only way that can be accomplished is by continuing taxpayer-provided subsidies that artificially reduce the price of ethanol-blended fuel at the gas pump. The American people would reject ethanol if they had to pay its full price at the service station.
It’s sad that many people don’t realize they have already paid full price — and then some — in taxes, higher food prices, lower mileage and engine damage.