The Federal Tax Credits Blog

Posts Tagged ‘environment’

Can we get off oil now?

How many wars, deaths, recessions and environmental disasters will it take before Americans, and their Congress, finally make a decisive move to reduce the country’s dependence on oil? We are in a decade-long war in Iraq because of oil. We are still reeling from the worst recession in 80 years because of oil. Last summer the worst environmental disaster of our time took place in the Gulf of …

“Spiritual Aspects of Love” بالشالات عمرعبدالكافي عشق الروح

Canfor Pulp Products Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter 2010 Results

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – 02/08/11) – Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CPPI) (TSX: CFX – News ) today announced Canfor Pulp Income Fund (the Fund) fourth quarter 2010 results as well as the results of Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership (the Partnership) in which CPPI has a 49.8% ownership. On January 1, 2011 the Fund was converted to Canfor Pulp Products Inc., a taxable Canadian …

Energy Efficient Heating & Cooling: Tax Credits & HVAC Rebates

Question: What is the reason for deductions and credits?

I am just wondering why we have so many deductions and credits in our tax system. Wouldn’t it be much simpler for everyone (businesses, the public and the government) if we all just paid our share and we had fewer deductions and loopholes? I understand some of the deductions we give such as deductions for children (obviously a family should pay less than a single guy only supporting himself), and some other deductions which offer incentives for doing things that are beneficial (such as tax breaks to green energy companies to research new energy). But why do we have SO MANY deductions and credits?

Answer: While I agree that the tax code is extremely complex, it is not because of the deductions and credits.

Deductions and credits serve two purposes. First, they do encourage behavior that the government support. Second, they stimulate the economy. If we paid more money to the government, we would have less money to spend on things such as housing. Without a deduction for mortgage interest, people would be less inclined to buy houses.

As far as supporting large families, taxpayers only get credits for the first two children they have. They get dependency exemptions, but without them people would go broke. Furthermore, families with large incomes get exempt from lots of the deductions and credits. Notice at the bottom of schedule A where you have to determine if your deductions are limited. These deductions and credits do help the people they are intended to.

The only reason the tax code is so complicated is because people try to beat the system. They attempt the breaks allowed by the government to benefit themselves even if they were not originally intended to. If you really look at each deduction and credit, they are all useful.

MEDC’s high-tech business tax credits, film incentives would be phased out under Rick Snyder plan

Film industry incentives and high-tech business tax credits distributed by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. would be eliminated as part of Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal to restructure the state’s business tax structure, according to a Detroit News report…….

Business Energy Investment Tax Credit

Question: Biomass research?

Currently, what research is being done on biomass?

Are there any incentives (tax credits, grants) for those who use biomass energy?

What is the future of biomass use?

How does biomass make electricity?

Answer: This topic is all over the popular science magazines. The website www.livescience.com has new info almost daily about this.
People have known for a long time that sewage produces methane. Methane is a worse greenhouse gas than CO2, but when it is burned it is a very clean fuel. If cities used bacteria to ferment sewage, they could generate quite a bit of methane. I’m clueless as to why this isn’t done on a large scale.
Any biological material decomposes, and most animal products and vegetation give off a variety of gases that can be used as fuel. Just think of all the leaves that are raked off people’s lawns every autumn – this is an enormous mass that could easily be treated with water and enzymes to make methane.
There are some credits and grants. Ethanol production is being subsidized by the government, but there are serious problems with producing and using ethanol. Ethanol is not as toxic as gasoline but it’s not as good a fuel either, and so people have to use more of it. Turning over millions of acres to grow corn to ferment into ethanol might help us make a dent in importing foreign oil, but we could probably achieve a greater reduction by better engines.

Glenn Haege: Energy-efficient updates, good planning ruled 2010

Two of the biggest stories my articles covered in 2010 were foreclosures and the importance of upgrading your home’s energy efficiency and the many tax credits, rebates and government programs that enabled you to accomplish this important home improvement.

ABICU – Biomass Stoves 101 – Tax Credit.mov

Question: First cap and trade and now blocking renewable energy – are Republicans becoming the UnGreen Party?

With gas prices now averaging a record $4.04 a gallon in the United States, the Senate voted on two bills Tuesday that would have revoked tax breaks for Big Oil and extended tax credits to renewable energy. Proponents of the two measures touted them as vital for consumer relief and transition to new energy sources, but both measures failed to muster the 60 votes needed to proceed.

The first vote, on the Consumer First Energy Act, fell short of cloture by a vote of 51-43. The second, on the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008, failed by a vote of 50-44. Both votes fell largely along party lines.

Trade organizations that represent renewable-energy firms on the Hill say they’re already seeing a slowing of growth in the sector because companies are hesitant to start new projects without the assurance that these credits will be available.

http://gristmill.grist.org/tag/Muckraker/

With Senate Republicans now blocking renewable energy, are they becoming the UnGreens?

Answer: Yeah, they’re the anti-greens and always have been. Except for maybe Teddy Roosevelt.

Come November we are going to see a landslide of historic proportions.

Lets hope the Dems keep their heads and don’t blow a historic opportunity.

We subsidize everything under the sun, except for the stuff that matters. If we took subsidies away from oil, airlines, highways and agriculture and let the “free market” work, suddenly alternative energy and local economies would look very attractive.

edit:

I wish they would have let some first graders in on the Bush-Cheney energy bill. They probably would have done a better job. Lord knows they wouldn’t let anyone else look at it.

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/energybill/2005/articles.cfm?ID=13980

Agriculture top 10

On the whole, 2010 was a good year for agriculture in Nebraska.

Entrepreneurship in Climate Change: Brighter Planet