A worker in a green safety shirt and hard hat crouches next to a solar panel.
Workers for Energy Independent Solutions install solar panels at a Millvale, Pa. community center in 2017. (Photo: Reid Frazier / The Allegheny Front)

Pa. solar installers say GOP’s U.S. House tax bill is a ‘disaster’ for business

Solar energy companies across the region are reeling at the prospect of rollbacks to the solar energy tax credits included in the budget bill that passed the U.S. House in May.

“It’s terrible,” said Micah Gold-Markel, founder of Solar States, a solar energy installer that employs about 60 people in the region. “Trump really framed this as the ‘green waste of money.’ Well, if you think that people’s jobs and their livelihoods are a waste of money, then you’re missing the story of America.”

Gold-Markel said if President Donald Trump’s stated goal is to create “American energy dominance,” then solar should be a big part of that.

“Solar creates jobs. It doesn’t destroy them,” Gold-Markel said.

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The 30% tax credits have helped make solar affordable for many residents and businesses, especially since the up-front costs to install panels are high and can take time to recoup from resulting lower electricity bills. But the House budget passed on May 21 would eliminate the tax credit 60 days after the budget is approved.

“We’re telling clients, let’s get construction started so that we still qualify in the 60-day window for construction starting,” said Gold-Markel. “But residentially, it’s a disaster, and I could see us having to lay off a quarter of the company.”

Gold-Markel said the tax credits helped him build his business, but if the provision gets approved by the U.S. Senate, it’s not clear whether it will survive. The Inflation Reduction Act, which extended the tax credits, also helped nonprofits, including churches and schools, take advantage of solar credits through “direct pay.”

“Direct pay allows for nonprofits, which don’t have tax liability, to get cash instead of the tax benefit,” Gold-Markel said. “That changed everything.”