The House Rules Committee cleared for a floor vote a bill to revive five dozen tax incentives that expired at the start of this year. The House is scheduled to vote today. The one-year retroactive extension of the tax breaks includes the $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax credit, a $500,000 business expensing provision known as Section 179, the wind power tax credit and a 50 percent bonus depreciation provision. An increase in the Section 179 deduction for business purchases of new equipment is a priority for farm groups. The one-year retroactive extension means the provisions will die again at the end of this month.
“The House is expected Wednesday to easily approve $45 billion legislation that would restore dozens of tax breaks that lapsed at the end of 2013 only through the end of the current year,” said The Hill newspaper, adding “there are also already signs that the Senate will end up accepting the House plan, as the tax provisions continue to divide Democrats.”
Also cleared by the Rules Committee was a bill that would raise the barge tax to 29 cents a gallon from the current 20 cents a gallon. “The barge industry has largely championed the tax increase because all the money would go to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund to help pay for repair and upkeep of river locks and dams,” says DTN. “Debra Colbert, senior vice president of the Waterways Council, said leadership for the group is hopeful about the prospects that the excise increase gets approved in the lame-duck session.”