Democratic House candidate Dan McCready’s spouse has claimed over $50,000 in tax credits since 2016 under a controversial North Carolina business incentive program, according to state records, even as her husband runs in opposition to tax loopholes.
McCready, who is running against Republican Dan Bishop and has also been in talks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about a potential 2020 Senate bid, has criticized loopholes that allow companies and wealthy individuals to lower their tax rate, arguing that the overwhelming amount of tax credits benefit the upper class. “I don’t think that it’s right, right now, that a billionaire like Warren Buffet is paying a lower tax rate than a teacher,” he said during a campaign event in April.
McCready’s wife, Laura T. McCready, claimed $19,745 in business tax credits in 2016 and $33,232 in 2018, according to North Carolina records. The credits were available under a North Carolina program for renewable energy investors and covered up to 35% of the tax liabilities for renewable energy projects.
The records do not say what project McCready’s wife claimed for the tax credits. The subsidies can be used for purchases of equipment related to solar, wind, hydroelectric, and other types of renewable energy production. Companies can also use the tax credits for investments in solar or wind farms.
McCready owns a renewable energy investment firm called Double Time Capital, which he founded in 2013. He and his wife also co-own a company called DL Land Ventures, which purchased a $1.2 million property in North Carolina’s Rutherford County in 2016, according to deed records.
“As a Marine and small business owner, Dan is proud of the role he played in making North Carolina the second in the nation for solar power, having helped build 36 solar farms that put 700 North Carolinians to work in good-paying jobs,” said Matt Fried, McCready campaign spokesman. “These tax credits were built to create those jobs, and they were taken just like any other North Carolina family itemizes their taxes. Today, over 30,000 North Carolina workers are employed in clean energy jobs of the future.”
The renewable tax credits were a key incentive for investors in McCready’s company, they told the Charlotte Business Journal in 2017. Former Wachovia executive Walter McDowell and Medalist Capital CEO Don Williams said they would have been unlikely to invest in the company if not for the now-expired tax credit.
“I think that has been very important,” Williams told the Charlotte Business Journal. “I hope the state will consider reinstating the credits going forward.”
Although the renewable tax credit program expired in 2015, the state paid out over $664 million due to a delayed sunset clause that allows renewable energy investors to retroactively claim the tax credits for projects that took place before 2017.
The program has been controversial in North Carolina, with critics decrying the $1 billion price tag and arguing that taxpayers are shouldering the tax burden for corporations. But is has also been effective at boosting the renewable energy industry in the state, with North Carolina ranking third in the country for solar energy production growth over the past decade.
Many of the investors who claimed credits under the program were large corporations. Blue Cross Blue Shield claimed $120 million between 2014 and 2017, and Duke Energy claimed $117 million, according to the Carolina Journal.
State Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, a critic of the program, told the Carolina Journal that the program had heavy lobbying support directed at the state legislature. “The whole green energy thing has been a very lucrative, money-making proposition for a lot of people,” said Dixon. “Renewable has a very strong lobby in the General Assembly.” While campaigning for Congress, McCready has blasted a tax system that he says unfairly benefits the wealthy.
“Today, if you don’t have money or a lobbyist, the deck is stacked against you,” said McCready’s campaign website. “As a small business owner, Dan understands the burden of needless regulations on small businesses, contractors, and entrepreneurs. He will fight to streamline cumbersome regulations so North Carolinians can start and grow companies and hire more workers.”
McCready also sat on the board of a nonprofit organization that lobbied for policies that benefited his solar energy business while allowing electric companies to raise consumer rates to offset state clean energy mandates, the Washington Examiner reported last month.
McCready served on the board of directors for the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association from January 2015 to December 2017. The organization, which spent over $450,000 while McCready was on the board, was a major backer of a mandate that requires utility companies to purchase 12.5% of their services from a renewable energy source by 2021.
A 2017 Fortune profile of McCready and Double Time Capital described the mandate as a key part of the company’s business model. “Investors are eventually rewarded because state utilities are required by law to purchase a percentage of their power from independent energy producers, including solar farms, usually through fixed multi-year contracts,” reported Fortune.
