U.S. House Passes Ethanol-Friendly Bill

U.S. House Passes Ethanol-Friendly Bill

April 5, 2004 [SolarAccess.com] The U.S. House of Representatives approved a transportation reauthorization bill (H.R. 3550) that included an important extension and modification of the ethanol incentive, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. The bill passed on a vote of 357-65. The funding section of the bill includes the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC). By modifying the method in which federal excise taxes are collected on ethanol-blended fuels, VEETC would generate more than $2 billion per year in additional highway trust fund (HTF) revenues while maintaining an important incentive for the use of renewable fuels. VEETC also extends the incentive through 2010. In addition to boosting revenues for the HTF, the U.S. Department of Agriculture states the ethanol tax incentive saves the federal government more than $3.2 billion dollars in lower farm program payments each year.