House Tax Proposal Extends Biodiesel, Cellulosic Incentives
Source: By Rachel Gantz, OPIS • Posted: Thursday, December 10, 2015
House and Senate negotiators are working on a larger tax deal that would convert some of the incentives — though it’s not clear which ones — to those permanently in the tax code, but in case that deal falls through, lawmakers may instead pass another extenders bill.
Among the provisions in the 175-page bill drafted by Brady, both the biodiesel tax credit and the cellulosic incentive would be retroactively extended through the end of 2016. Those provisions expired at the end of 2015.
Congress has struggled the last few years with trying to pass tax reform and has instead, as a stopgap measure, enacted larger tax extenders packages each year.
Anne Steckel, the National Biodiesel Board’s vice president of federal affairs, said that “[t]he negotiations continue, and while we appreciate the inclusion of the biodiesel tax incentive in this particular version, we are committed to reforming it to a producer’s tax credit so that U.S. taxpayers are not spending hundreds of millions of dollars supporting biodiesel production overseas. We don’t think lawmakers in either party want to continue subsidizing foreign fuel, so this is a common-sense change that should be included in any final legislation,” she added.
To view a copy of Brady’s proposal, visit:
http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20151207/BILLS-114hr34eas-AMNT1.pdf.
Meantime, recently Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced stand-alone legislation to retroactively extend the biodiesel tax credit through 2016 and then convert the incentive from a blender’s credit to a producer’s credit, through 2018.