Fuel Retailers Urge Congress to Pass Short-Term Tax Package
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NATSO, SIGMA: America's Leading Fuel Marketers and NACS lent their voices to a coalition of nearly 40 organizations and industry associations urging Congress to enact a short-term tax package to ensure energy and agriculture market stability until lawmakers can debate long-term tax policy in the 119th Congress.
American consumers face substantial rising energy and fuel prices amid significant market uncertainty stemming from the expiration of longstanding energy tax policies and a lack of regulatory guidance for new tax policies scheduled to take effect in 2025, the organizations said in a Nov. 13 letter addressed to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
The organizations representing a broad group of energy and transportation providers, consumers and agriculture believe a short-term energy package that incorporates several proposals to extend fuel tax credits for an array of alternative fuels, including the biodiesel blenders' tax credit, could help give the industry time to understand and adjust to new tax structures.
[Read more: Coalition of Food & Fuel Retailers Oppose RECHARGE Act]
"Unless something is done soon, existing credits will expire without any meaningful guidance from Treasury regarding the Clean Fuel Production Credit," said NATSO and SIGMA Executive Vice President of Government Affairs David Fialkov. "This is prompting the biodiesel industry to effectively shut down. Emissions will increase, fuel prices will increase, and agriculture jobs will be lost. We are well past the point where guidance can quickly fix this dire situation. Industry needs a real solution right now. We implore Congress to enact a short-term tax package that extends the longstanding biodiesel blenders’ tax credit to serve as a bridge until longer-term tax policy is front and center for the new administration and Congress."
In 2025, federal lawmakers will confront major tax policy expirations, the majority of which stem from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Without broad, holistic reforms and extensions in the tax system, the coalition believes the combination will create severe economic headwinds for businesses and consumers. A bridge package could alternatively help provide regulatory certainty for fuel retailers.
In the meantime, bipartisan legislation H.R. 9060, introduced by Representatives Mike Carey (R-OH), Annie Kuster (D-NH) and Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), would extend the biodiesel blenders' tax credit for one year. Additionally, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) voiced support for a tax package that includes the biodiesel tax credit and 20 tax credits that "must be passed."
[Read more: Fuel Retailers Applaud Biodiesel Tax Credit Legislation]
According to NATSO, biodiesel and renewable diesel have historically been the most widely used biofuels in commercial trucking. The biodiesel blenders' tax credit directly lowers the cost of diesel fuel for truck drivers, which in turn reduces shipping costs and helps lower the prices consumers pay for goods transported by truck.
Extending the credit would potentially ensure that motor carriers can continue to cut carbon emissions within existing fleets while also keeping fuel prices and consumer costs down.