The House of Representatives has approved a broad corporate tax bill (251-178) that includes provisions to reform the federal tax treatment of ethanol motor fuels to ensure the Highway Trust Fund is fully compensated for ethanol use. The ethanol provisions also are included in the House and Senate versions of legislation to reauthorize TEA-21. Including the ethanol/HTF reforms in multiple bills helps increase the possibility of the provisions being enacted this year.
In a June 16 letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), the author of the bill, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, which represents the ethanol industry, expressed strong support for the proposal to reform the tax treatment of ethanol fuels. According to the letter, the tax bill's ethanol provisions "will add up to $15.1 billion in revenues to the Highway Trust Fund over the six-year life of the transportation bill pending before Congress." The letter also points out that the increased HTF revenues would generate more than 700,000 jobs.
