Proposed Bill a Compromise on Renewable Energy Tax Incentive Debate
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators recently introduced a scaled-backed, $6 billion tax bill to jumpstart the stalled debate over renewable energy tax incentives.
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators recently introduced a scaled-backed, $6 billion tax bill to jumpstart the stalled debate over renewable energy tax incentives.
The bill omits controversial revenue-raising provisions opposed by the White House and Senate Republicans in an earlier version. These "pay-fors," inserted into the earlier bill in order to comply with congressional pay-as-you-go rules, would raise taxes on a select group of oil and gas producers.
The proposed bill, which has six Democrats and 14 Republicans as original co-sponsors, includes several real estate provisions:
- A one-year extension of the $1.80 per-square-foot deduction available to commercial building owners to offset energy-efficiency investments that considerably exceed market standards.
- An eight-year extension of the 30 percent business tax credit for solar and fuel cell investment (and a 10 percent credit for micro-turbines).
- A proposed new 10 percent investment tax credit for combined heat-and-power (CHP) property, which offers a way to recapture and reuse significant amounts of waste heat for generating electricity, steam and chilled water.
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