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On December 31, 2009, the current federal excise tax credit for alternative fuels and alternative fueling infrastructure expires. Transit operators who utilize alternative fuels, including compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquid natural gas (LNG) are eligible for a 50 cent per gallon equivalent tax credit. This tax credit is an important source of revenue for many public transportation agencies that utilize natural gas for a portion or all of their fleet fueling needs. Not only does this provision provide significant offsetting revenues to agencies’ fuel budgets, it further supports the industry goals of enhancing our nation’s long-term strategy for energy security and its contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Discussions are currently underway to extend the alternative fuels tax credits as part of a larger package of what are known as “tax extenders” – a long list of tax provisions that also expire at the end of the calendar year. It is also possible that the extension of these provisions could be enacted as part of an extension of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), but it is more likely that they will be passed as part of a “tax extenders” package.
APTA has also endorsed stand-alone legislation – the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act of 2009 (H.R.1835/S.1408) – that would expand and extend the credits until December 31, 2027 (or 2019 in the Senate bill). To see a copy of APTA’s original letter to the House bill’s sponsor, Representative Dan Boren, click here. H.R. 1835 currently has 117 cosponsors.
It is important that your elected representatives in the U.S. House and Senate hear from APTA members expressing support for the extension of these important provisions of the federal tax code before Congress completes its work for 2009. Please contact your members of Congress, particularly those members who may serve on the House Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee (click the committee links to see the list of members), and explain to them the urgent need to renew and expand these important tax credit provisions before the end of the year.
Action Alert
APTA members need to contact their Representative and Senators, particularly members of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. When you talk to your Senators, please ask the following:
- Urge your Senator to contact Chairman Baucus of the Senate Finance Committee and other Senate leaders to express support for extending the alternative fuels tax credits before they expire on December 31, 2009.
- Urge your Representative to contact Chairman Rangel of the House Ways and Means Committee and other House Leaders to express support for extending the alternative fuels tax credits before they expire on December 31, 2009.
- Explain that the tax credit provisions provide important offsets to your alternative fueling costs and provide incentives for investments in clean natural gas vehicles and fueling infrastructure, and that they have the added benefits of encouraging our nation’s energy independence and reducing carbon emissions.
- Ask your Senator to co-sponsor S. 1408 which would extend through 2019 the 50 cent per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) tax credit for natural gas (both CNG and LNG). Ask your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 1835 which would extend through 2027 the 50 cent per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) tax credit for natural gas (both CNG and LNG).
- Please thank those members of Congress who are already cosponsors of the House or Senate legislation.
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A draft letter is available for you to edit and send through the Legislative Action Center by clicking here.
APTA has also written to House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus to urge them to move legislation to extend these provisions. For copies of those letters, go to APTA’s Government Affairs Letters page here.
Be sure to check to see if your Representative or Senators are already cosponsors of the House or Senate bills, and thank them if appropriate. Click here for the House cosponsors. Click here for the Senate cosponsors.
For additional information on this legislation, please contact Brian Tynan of APTA’s Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4897 or email btynan@apta.com.