Today installing a solar system for heating anything from the water that you take a bath with to cooking food is one of the most important steps taken by the government for going green. The government is giving many incentives to citizens right from low taxes on price to discount coupons so that more and more people are encouraged to use solar energy. At present, the Federal Government is giving 30% tax credit to you in order to install the solar system in your home. Most of states in the US have such incentives to encourage people to go green.
The other incentives offered by the government for purchasing and installing the solar system include cash rebates. These are cash back offers where you get a certain percentage of your cash spending back after you have installed the solar system. The percentage of cash rebate varies from state to state and it could be anything from 5% to 10%. Tax credits are also given to the citizens. In this way, people who install the systems have to pay lesser tax at the end of the financial year. Hence you can save a considerable amount of money through this incentive.
Many state governments are also allowing tax deductions on purchases of solar systems. The again becomes beneficial for the people who will be encouraged to use green energy. The government has taken additional steps to promote their green campaign. For the benefit of those citizens who want to go for solar systems the government is providing additional incentives such as property tax incentives and utility service incentives. Last but not the least, is the local options given to the people in terms of incentives by the respective state governments.
Most of the state governments offer multiple incentives from the ones mentioned above to a combination of two or more incentives. The plan is to encourage more and more people to buy and install the solar systems for producing energy. In case you want to see what you state is offering as incentives you can visit the website of Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.
In 2005, there was a policy introduced by the government to provide $2000 worth of tax rebates for people buying and using solar systems. In 2009, there was an Act passed by the government to allow 30% of all costs for buying and setting up the system. The $2000 rebate was done away with.
