Dozens of federal tax breaks for businesses and consumers expired at midnight on Tuesday, December 31, 2013, reports the New England Fuel Institute. This includes the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit and Section 25C tax credits for the installation of efficient heating systems and other qualified home energy efficiency retrofits, according to the Jan. 6 issue of NEFI Online Energy News (NEON).
In late December, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont. issued a proposal to eliminate the 25C credit and to roll all existing tax credits for alternative fuels into a new “renewable fuels” credit, NEON reports. Shortly after the draft proposal was released, Chairman Baucus was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to China by President Obama. The appointment and the resulting void in committee leadership makes any type of tax reform unlikely in 2014 and increases the possibility that existing credits will simply be retroactively extended once again, according to NEON. However, these and other tax breaks for businesses and consumers could be on the table for elimination as Congress negotiates a new debt ceiling, according to NEON.
NEFI supports a retroactive renewal of the biodiesel tax credit and is working closely with the National Biodiesel Board on the issue.
