Farmers Urge Congress to Extend Lapsed Tax Credits for Biodiesel, Renewable Energy
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TaxesErin Anthony
Director, Communications
photo credit: AFBF Photo, Philip Gerlach
A recently introduced bill would continue several expired tax provisions important to farmers and ranchers. Offered by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Tax Extenders Act of 2017 (S. 2256) would extend several tax credits for biodiesel, renewable energy and for short line railroads. Most of the credits expired in 2016.
In a recent letter to House and Senate leaders urging them to pass legislation extending these key provisions, the American Farm Bureau Federation and more than 55 other organizations explained that these expired provisions impact sectors vital to the U.S. economy and support tens of thousands of jobs nationwide.
“Acting to extend these expired tax provisions will allow businesses and individuals to make important planning decisions. Allowing these provisions to remain lapsed creates confusion in the marketplace, and effectively increases taxes on entities that create jobs and economic growth,” the groups wrote.
House and Senate tax writing committees are expected to work on tax extenders in January.
The Tax Extenders Act of 2017 would continue the following Farm Bureau-supported tax provisions, most of which expired in 2016, for 2017 and 2018:
- The $1.01-per-gallon income tax credit for cellulosic biofuel
- The $1.00-per-gallon biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credits for biodiesel and blending biodiesel
- The 10-cents-per-gallon Small Agri-Biodiesel Producer Credit
- The $1.00-per-gallon biodiesel excise tax credit that can be taken against fuel taxes
- The 30-percent investment tax credit for installing alternative vehicle refueling property
- The 2.3 cents-per-kilowatt hour Production Tax Credit for energy from closed-loop biomass and the 1.2 cent-per-kilowatt-hour credit for closed-loop biomass
- The option of taking an investment tax credit in lieu of Production Tax Credit (Currently, it’s 24 percent for 2017, 18 percent for 2018, 12 percent for 2019 and expires in 2020.)
- The investment tax credit for installation costs of facilities that produce electricity from wind (Currently, it’s 24 percent for 2017, 18 percent for 2018, 12 percent for 2019 and expires in 2020.)
- The Distributed Wind Investment Tax Credit for electricity production facilities
- The 50-percent Railroad Track Maintenance Credit for short line railroads
