DOE examines taxing issue in new report

Journal Article · Thu Jan 13 00:00:00 EST 1994 · Energy Daily; (United States)

OSTI ID:6926335

Kaplan, D

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the federal tax code generally serves as an incentive for renewable energy production, not a barrier, the Department of Energy concluded in a report released Monday. Largely because depreciation schedules are shorter for renewable projects than for conventional plants - about five years compared to 20 - federal taxes and credits are a boon for the renewable projects of both investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and non-utility generators (NUGs). But a renewable energy leader dubbed the report [open quotes]idiotic[close quotes] for not examining the full fuel cycle. Such an examination would show that federal policy actually favored fossil fuels over renewables. Nonetheless, in what it termed a [open quotes]surprising[close quotes] finding, DOE said only federal income taxes on hydro and waste biomass IOU projects acted as barriers to renewable energy development. All seven renewables examines in the report benefitted from federal tax treatment of NUGs. However, when all local, state and federal taxes were included for IOUs, the report said five of the seven renewables faced barriers greater than conventional technologies. For NUGs though, renewables still have an advantage when all taxes are considered.

• OSTI ID: 6926335
• Journal Information: Energy Daily; (United States), Vol. 22:9; ISSN 0364-5274
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
TAX LAWS
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
LAWS
299000* - Energy Planning & Policy- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation
293000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
290201 - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics- (1992-)