U.S. grown corn and soybeans may not qualify for tax credits proposed for sustainable aviation fuels in a House Ways and Means Committee tax proposal to fund the Democrats’ massive budget bill.
Nebraska Republican Adrian Smith brought up the issue at a Ways and Means budget bill tax mark-up, citing a provision to use an outdated model to measure lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. “I’m told that because this model is somewhere between ten and 15-years out of date, U.S. grown corn and soy do not qualify. If U.S. grown corn and soy don’ meet this model’s standards, the sustainable aviation fuel produced from them, would be ineligible.”
“Is that correct,” Smith asked Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold. He said “I don’t know the particulars about U.S. corn and soy, Mr. Smith, but if they do not, under the statute, if the components do not meet the standards, they would not qualify.”
Smith then moved to include Ag industry concerns; “I would like to ask unanimous consent to include in the record a letter from The Renewable Fuels Association, the Biodiesel Board, the Corn and Soybean Growers and others, expressing the concerns relating to the language currently in the bill. There’s bipartisan concern about the rushed nature of these very technical, very detailed, in depth, so ordered, requirements, and I’m very concerned that we’re headed in the wrong direction.”
The Ag letter accepted into the record by Chairman Richard Neal was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
It argues Congress should use a state-of-the-art U.S. lifecycle model, not an international one that ignores U.S. farm and biofuel carbon savings and would have U.S. taxpayers subsidize Brazilian and other foreign blend stocks, instead.
