LANSING – Legislation expanding the kinds of energy that are eligible for Michigan tax credits, including for personal property tax credits that many cases aren’t now available was approved by the House Energy and Technology Committee on Wednesday.
The committee approved SB 583 and 584, which amends the five-year-old energy act to include technologies such as bio mass and thermoelectrics (turning waste heat into energy) that weren’t anticipated when the state began promoting the research and development of alternative energies.
The package, which includes SB 803, already awaiting a floor vote, will allow more companies to get tax credits for researching and developing and using alternative energy and for owning vehicles such as hybrids and hydraulic hybrids, which are new categories of vehicles added in the legislation.
Companies that would qualify for credits under the new definition would likely expand their operations or choose to relocate because of the tax incentives, the bills’ supporters said, meaning thousands more potential jobs in a growing economic sector.
Groups in support of the bills include the National Wildlife Federation, the Michigan Environmental Council and the Ecology Center.
The Sierra Club is not opposed to legislation that ultimately promotes technologies that prevent pollution, Spokesperson Gayle Miller said, but the group doesn’t support the bills if they end up giving tax breaks to companies that are known polluters.
Companies should clean up their act, she said, but not on a taxpayer’s dime.
An amendment approved by the committee would also include credits for companies that research and develop the use of hydroelectric power, a technology that had previously been left out because of environmental concerns over damming used to capture power from a water supply.
However, newer developments in hydroelectric power have made its use much more environmentally friendly, said Jeremy Hendges, spokesperson for Sen. Jason Allen (R-Traverse City).
The legislation is written to give credits toward the Single Business Tax and personal property tax liability, and a few committee members questioned how the credits would align with future plans for an SBT replacement and how giving more tax credits would allow for the revenue neutral plan Governor Jennifer Granholm has insisted upon.
Proponents of the bills said that no matter how the credits are affected by revenue cuts, it’s important to expand the definitions of alternative energy to include the up and coming industries, which is what the package of bills would do regardless of the amount of credits that result from the legislation.
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