President Obama signed a bill (H.R.
8) embodying an agreement to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” In some ways, the bill is a punt. The 113th Congress and the
president will be negotiating new deals again in a couple of months. Rather than complain about the chronic
procrastination and shortsighted partisanship that is prevalent in our capital
(I supposed I just complained), I’ll summarize some of the
infrastructure-related features of the bill.
ENERGY
The bill extends the tax credit for wind energy of 2.2 cents per
kilowatt hour. The extension is for 10
years and will cost $1.2 billion annually.
A more modest provision in terms of price, $1 million annually, will
extend a subsidy of $2 per ton for coal produced on Indian lands.
Other provisions
- Extend tax credits for home energy improvements and energy-efficient new homes and appliances,
- Extend the tax credit related to what are now called second generation biofuels,
- Extend credits for a variety of alternative energy generation in addition to wind,
- Extend a number of programs that support biomass projects through tax credits and financial assistance,
- Extend the tax credit on refueling properties for alternative fuel vehicles,
- Extend credits for biodiesel.
TRANSPORTATION
Railroads will receive a one-year extension of the tax credit for
maintenance. The will be about $165
million of the year.
An expired increase in the tax credit for taking public transit that
originated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is revived for
2013 and retroactively for 2012.
Electric scooters and bikes will be supported by an extension of the
tax credit for “2- or 3-wheeled plug-in” electric vehicles.
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