Add The California Post on Google Once again, Gov. Gavin Newsom is dipping into Californians’ wallets to bankroll an electric-vehicle handout — this time a $3,500 “MyFirstEV” rebate for first-time buyers.
This, while the state can’t keep the lights on for basic problems and the governor plays national politics with other people’s money.
The program sinks roughly $135 million of taxpayers’ cash into instant discounts for a select few. That’s money yanked from workers and families already paying some of the highest taxes in America.
It’s going to shave a few grand off sticker prices for certain cars — while housing stays unaffordable, homelessness festers, wildfires rage, roads crumble and everyday costs keep climbing.
Prioritizing EV car subsidies over these crises isn’t leadership. It’s an insult.
And let’s not pretend this is some noble policy. Newsom is waving the rebate slip around as California’s big rebuke to federal tax credit rollbacks.
He’s cast himself as the progressive hero standing up to Washington.
Too bad the bill lands on California taxpayers. We’re footing the cost of his national photo-op.
The actual benefits? Narrow and lopsided. First-time buyers of EVs costing under $50,000 new (or $25,000 used) get the break. Plenty of lower- and middle-income households still can’t swing the rest of the price, the higher insurance or the home charger. Apartment renters are mostly out of luck.
So the broad tax base subsidizes a very narrow slice of better-positioned buyers. Classic.
Market reality makes it worse. The federal EV credits vanished at the end end of 2025. EV sales cooled, and dealer lots filled up with slow movers. Big automakers took tens of billions in write-downs while delaying or killing off EV models in a panic.
Ford, GM, Stellantis, Honda and others hit the brakes. Private industry is walking away from the exact segment Newsom is now propping up with our public dollars. Nothing says “smart investment” like Newsom throwing more money at a product the manufacturers themselves are scaling back.
A July 2026 Public Policy Institute of California poll showed 66% of adults and 65% of likely voters reject Newsom’s 2035 ban on new gas-powered cars.
Opposition is up sharply since 2021 and now includes half of Democrats.
Taxpayers are underwriting a vision from Newsom that the majority of Californians have already rejected, while the governor milks it for national applause.
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This isn’t a one-off. It’s part of a pattern of problematic handouts.
State auditors documented roughly $20 billion in fraudulent pandemic unemployment payments through California’s Employment Development Department.
Hundreds of millions of dollars flowed to illegal immigrants’ legal defense, using public money to fight federal law enforcement.
Add the diaper giveaway tied to Newsom’s wife and the picture gets clearer: big checks, soft oversight and priorities that are more political than practical.
Against that track record, what’s another $135 million for EV rebates? Just pure salt in the wound.
Californians already pay through the nose and deal with daily headaches.
We watch the waste pile up, then get told our earnings will now underwrite vehicles in a soft EV market while the governor scores political points for his 2028 presidential bid.
The anger he receives is earned. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to keep bankrolling handouts that benefit a select few despite majority skepticism.
The MyFirstEV rebate is just the latest example of hard-earned money spent by Gavin Newsom on the wrong things for the wrong reasons.
Richie Greenberg is a political commentator based in San Francisco.
