DeLauro Calls for Tax Credit for Farmers to Use Renewables
DeLauro Calls for Tax Credit for Farmers to Use Renewables
- Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) introduced legislation that would provide tax breaks to farm cooperative members for the installation of alternative fueling stations. The bill would close a gap in the current law, which provides a 30 percent tax credit for the installation of pumps that are able to use renewable fuels such as E-85, but does not allow for these tax credits to be passed onto individual members of farm cooperatives (small farmers.)
"The production and distribution of ethanol and biodiesel provides new economic opportunities for our nation's farms, as well as a chance to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. Yet the incentives to use these renewable fuels are not reaching small farmers," said DeLauro. "Although eligible farm cooperatives are able to receive a tax credit for the installation of alternative fuel vehicle refueling properties, they are not able to pass it on to their members. This bill would simply allow these agricultural cooperatives to pass this tax credit through to their members, meaning small farmers."
The Internal Revenue Code currently provides tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of qualified alternative fuel vehicle refueling properties up to $30,000.
The ethanol industry is expected to add more than 5 billion gallons of renewable fuel to the energy supply in 2006, and recent statistics demonstrate that ethanol is expected to contribute approximately $200 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP). Offering E-85 to their customers presents a good opportunity for farm cooperatives, given that they often produce the feedstocks and the ethanol that goes into E-85. According to the USDA, there are approximately 3,000 agriculture cooperatives in the U.S. representing millions of farmers and investors
The Agricultural Cooperative Renewable Fuel Stations Act is the House companion to legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate by Tom Harkin (D-Iowa.)
http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2006/July/farm_tax_credit_7_21_06.html