The auto industry generated more than $135 billion in federal and state revenue in 2010, a new report says. In a study released today by the Center for Automotive Research, a nonprofit research organization in Ann Arbor, Mich., the production, sales, service and use of vehicles generated at least $43 billion in federal tax revenue and more than $91.5 billion in state government revenue in 2010.
Of the $43 billion in federal tax revenue, $14 billion came from income taxes and $29 billion from federal motor fuel taxes.
The study backs arguments in favor of the 2009 automotive bailouts, which have become a hot-button topic for the 2012 presidential election. The Obama administration has defended and taken credit for the 2009 bailouts, which were first initiated in 2008 by the Bush administration. Republicans, led by primary front-runner Mitt Romney, have criticized the bailouts as a wasteful use of taxpayer money.
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