US Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) proposed a sweeping tax reform proposal that would eliminate scores of tax breaks that promote clean energy and efficiency. The winners in the draft proposal would be low carbon emission resources and fuel incentives that would be based on greenhouse gas levels, as determined by the EPA.
The motivation is to cut the roughly $150 billion price tag over the next decade by more than half. The reductions would allow lowering of the 35-percent corporate tax rate.
“It is time to bring our energy tax policy into the 21st century,” Baucus said in a statement. “Our current set of energy tax incentives is overly complex and picks winners and losers with no clear policy rationale. We need a system of energy incentives that is more predictable, rational and technology-neutral to increase our energy security and ensure a clean and healthy environment.”
Some of the credits phased out are those that benefit individuals and businesses for retrofitting their homes and offices for greater energy efficiency.