OLYMPIA – In the face of a slumping economy and a global recession, the Washington State Senate passed Senate Bill 6170, which will establish tax incentives for a number of renewable energy sources and related activities, including the hauling of logs, as well as creating a tax exemption on hog fuel used to produce electricity, steam, heat, or biofuel.
The tax relief is funded primarily by the repeal of an existing tax credit for the purchase of hybrid cars, which is now covered by tax credits at the Federal level.
If signed into law, SB 6170 would lower the public utility tax from 1.926 to 1.37 percent, saving log haulers nearly $1 million over the next two years, and nearly $4 million by 2015. For hog fuel, the measure is expected to provide nearly $2.5 million in tax relief over the next two years, and over $8 million by 2015.
“We know just how important our timber harvest is to keeping the cycle of renewable energy moving forward, and it makes sense to help lower the cost of getting timber to market,” Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, said. “We need to be promoting and investing in new technologies that will break our dependence on foreign energy and focus on what will create jobs and help our local economy.”
SB 6170, which contains legislation sponsored by Hargrove as well as Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, addresses the tax rates on a number of products and industries surrounding renewable energy, including machine and equipment for generating electricity from fuel cells, sun, wind, biomass, tidal and wave energy, geothermal resources, anaerobic digesters, and many more.
“In our area, families have depended on hauling logs to pay the bills for generations,” Hargrove said. “This recession is the perfect time to give some tax relief to families and businesses across the 24th district and all of Washington.”
SB 6170 passed the Senate on a 34-13 vote, and now heads to the House for consideration, and must be passed before the adjournment of the 2009 session, scheduled for April 26.