Rezachek & Associates'
Energy & Environmental Resources

Energy Incentive Programs/Financing Alternatives

Tax Credits/Tax Treatment

Corporate Welfare Information Center "The $150 billion for corporate subsidies and tax benefits eclipses the annual budget deficit of $130 billion. It's more than the $145 billion paid out annually for the core programs of the social welfare state: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), student aid, housing, food and nutrition, and all direct public assistance (excluding Social Security and medical care)."

EC Carbon Tax Since 1991, the European Community has been debating the merits and desired method of implementation of a plan to reduce the EC's emission of greenhouse gases, in this case specifically CO2. In order to reduce CO2 emissions, the European Commission proposed a carbon tax -- a tax on non-renewable energy sources, such as oil and coal, that release CO2 into the atmosphere.

Eco Tax Reform - an Option for CEE Public policies have a great influence on the economy and the environment as on average 50 percent of total expenditures and income goes through the budget - via taxes and expenditures. In recent years many Western countries are beginning to use this influence in an environmentally rational way. To investigate the environmental impacts of their budgets they are looking at existing taxes and charges, tax allowances and exemptions, relevant regulations and expenditures. Furthermore they have started to implement new environmental taxes and abolish environmentally damaging subsidies.

ENERGY COST SAVINGS PROGRAM (ECSP) Offers eligible businesses direct reductions in energy costs or tax credits up to 30 percent for electricity and 20 percent for natural gas. Space heating costs are not eligible. Benefits last 12 years and are phased out after the 8th year.

Environmental Tax Program Publication List An extensive listing of publications related to environmental taxation.

Federal Five-Year Depreciation Schedule for Solar Energy Property The federal government offers a 5-year accelerated depreciation for all solar energy equipment.

Federal Tax Inequities For Renewable Energy Projects (The Need To Level The Playing Field) As numerous studies have concluded -- federal, state, and local tax laws combine to create major barriers for market development of renewable energy generation. By using tax modeling techniques, it has been shown that facilities which have the same MW size, hours of operations, and the same level of overall production costs will receive different tax reatments based on the type of technology used.

Global Strategy on Resource Taxes Adapted from 'Caring for the Earth - A Strategy for Sustainable Living'. Resource taxes are useful for limiting demand when it is not important to establish a maximum level of aggregate resource use. Such taxes could replace existing taxes; or the money they raise could be returned to the taxpayer for investment in better pollution control equipment and other subsidies.

Global Warming Controversy: Heating Up An issue that will both enrich and punish investors for the next fifty years: Global warming. Some experts fear that modern society is amplifying a natural greenhouse effect, causing the global temperature to rise dangerously. Politicians have concluded that it is time for the industrialized world to act. The environmental community warns that concentrations above 520 ppm are dangerous and must be avoided. To stay below the 520 ppm ceiling, global CO2 emissions must first stop rising, then become stable, and ultimately fall. Proposal s to accomplish this will sharply boost the cost of fossil fuel energy and slow world growth rates -- causing far reaching consequences for investors.

Investment Tax Credit for Solar Energy Property The 10% investment tax credit, otherwise known as the business energy tax credit, has been permanently extended as part of the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. This means that the solar energy industry will no longer be burdened with the prospect of a continually expiring and reinstated credit.

National Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) In late 1995, the U.S. Department of Energy initiated a new program, entitled the National Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE), through the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, to survey each of the 50 states for available information on financial and regulatory incentives that are designed to promote the application of renewable energy technologies. This information is being developed into a database, reports prepared and printed which detail the incentives on a state-by-state basis, and access provided to much of the database via the Internet. By providing this information on a wide basis, it will be much easier for other states to get needed information for analyzing and replicating successful incentives in their own states. This database includes information on tax credits.

Polluters' Tax Holiday Polluting industries avoid paying $1.7 billion in Superfund taxes. Sometimes lobbyists measure their victories not by the number of provisions they get into legislation, but by the provisions they are able to keep out.

SolarFacts: Solar Taking Care of Business olar is being used by increasingly more businesses every day in applications ranging from heating water to providing a more reliable, clean power source. Solar energy provides a business with "power security", enabling a business to continue operating even when utility power is disrupted.

State Carbon Tax Model The State Carbon Tax Model was originally developed by the Center for Global Change in 1991-92 in response to a request by the Maryland Legislature for advice on possible new energy and environmental taxes. Since then, the Model has been adapted for wider use, made more user friendly, and tested by state officials and environmentalists in other states. The Center for Global Change is now making the Model available free of charge on the WorldWide Web for general use by state officials, the environmental community and other interested parties.

Taxation A list of links to creative ideas for using taxation for social benefits.

Tax Breaks Deserve Ax Alternative energy sources are coming under the knife. While we're at this, let's look at all subsidies. Two decades after the oil shortages and gas line of the '70s, taxpayer-funded efforts to jump-start alternative energy sources have borne little result. Despite billions in grants, subsidies and tax breaks to wrest power from the wind, the sun, even garbage and corn squeezin's, 92% of U.S. energy still comes from oil, gas and coal.

Tax Break Would Push Energy-efficient Cars The Clinton administration is proposing generous new tax credits for consumers who buy advanced automobiles that use emerging technologies to go two or three times as far on a gallon of gas as today's models go.

Tax Credits and the Development of Renewable Energy in California California leads the world in non-conventional renewable electricity generation. This enviable position was, in large part, due to a combination of tax credits and regulatory reforms designed to stimulate renewable energy production. Renewable electric generation in California has benefited from federal and state tax credits and a state property tax exemption. Introduction of the credits was primarily motivated by energy security concerns, but support for their continuation in the 1980s and 1990s has increasingly been based on environmental concerns. Credits have been available for both electric and non-electric applications of renewable energy including commercial and residential uses, but this case examines only the commercial electricity sector.

Tax Inequities For Renewable Energy Development (Current Tax Laws Provide A Competitive Advantage For Fossil Fuels) As numerous studies have concluded -- federal, state, and local tax laws combine to create major barriers for market development of renewable energy generation. By using tax modeling techniques, it has been shown that facilities which have the same MW size, hours of operations, and the same level of overall production costs will receive different tax treatments based on the type of technology used.

The Hidden Entitlements - Oil, Gas and Energy Tax Breaks Oil and gas companies are allowed to write off many of their capital costs immediately, and many can take deductions for so-called "percentage depletion"--which has no connection with actual expenses. The purpose of these tax subsidies is to encourage domestic oil and gas production--andapparently consumption.

The Impact Of A Broad-Based Energy Tax On The Competitiveness Of U.S. Industry Abstract of an article by J. Andrew Hoerner and Frank Muller. The Natural Resources Tax Review. July-August 1993.

Tradable Permits vs. Green Taxes Discussion on "green" or Pigovian taxes lead to the question: why is the ecological-economics community so stuck on green taxes as the way to incorporate externalities into market prices? There is another way to accomplish this end, and that is auctions of tradable permits. The differences between these two approaches are non-trivial, and those who favor market-based approaches to environmental protection need to thrash out the differences quite thoroughly and quite quickly, because important policy decisions loom (e.g., how to implement binding reductions of greenhouse gas emissions).

Vice President Gore Announces $2,000 Solar Tax Credit On January 30, 1998, Vice President Gore proposed a $2,000 solar tax credit to help American homeowners and businesses adopt clean energy technologies that create jobs and fight global warming.