Wyden pitches new clean energy tax incentives
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced Tuesday his proposal to measurably reduce carbon pollution over the next decade through a series of incentives for clean energy and the promotion of new technologies in the private sector.
Wyden unveiled his series of next-generation tax incentives at a news conference with Senate colleagues as part of a joint energy bill sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
As the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and as a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Wyden “is well-positioned to reform the tax code so that the comprehensive energy bill achieves its goals of cutting carbon pollution substantially below 2005 levels over the next decade as well as creating millions of jobs in the clean energy sector,” said a news release from his office.
“The tax code plays an enormous role in energy policy, but the current system is a crazy quilt of laws that suffocates innovation,”Wyden said.
“This bill is built around the proposition that the law ought to reward clean energy with incentives that spark innovation in the private economy,”he said.”Our proposal makes it possible to get more clean, renewable energy for less money and I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues to get it through the Senate.”
Among Wyden’s proposed clean-energy tax incentives are technology-neutral tax credits for domestic production of clean electricity and clean transportation fuel, as well as performance-based tax credit for energy efficient homes and tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings – the more energy conserved, the larger the incentive.
