Take action: Oppose the US Senate’s BEAT provision

As you are likely aware, recently the U.S. Senate passed their version of tax reform legislation. The bill, which differs from the previously-passed legislation in the U.S. House, now must be negotiated and reconciled between the two Chambers in the coming days with the goal of a final bill going to the President before Christmas. While NCSEA has not fully analyzed either bill’s complete impact on clean energy, one particular provision in the Senate’s tax plan is glaringly worrisome to us – and we’re asking you and our fellow Business Members to join us in contacting key members of our congressional delegation TODAY to make this needed change.

The Senate version of the tax plan includes a provision called Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax (BEAT), which – put simply – could cut our industry off at the knees by penalizing past projects and diminishing financial incentive to invest in the future. (See below for more details.)

The BEAT provision would have a devastating impact on our clean energy industry and the many Americans it employs, particularly those in solar and wind. We must take action NOW to tell Congress just how harmful this would be to NC’s clean energy industry, which seems to face a new federal-level threat every day. NCSEA echoes the concerns of our friends at ACORE, AWEA, ACC, CRES, CEN, and CCE, and we are also working closely with our partners at SEIA and AEE to stay updated on the issue and ways to take action. You can join us today in making our collective voice heard. Please stand with NCSEA and our partners in asking Congress to say NO to the job-killing BEAT provision by removing it in the final tax reform bill negotiations:

Time is very short – NC’s congressional leaders need to hear from you today, on the phone or over email! If you are communicating on behalf of your business, be sure to state your specific concerns from that perspective. *Wind industry advocates, click here for a one-stop landing page to take quick action.*

Quick background on the BEAT provision: The Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax requires companies that make cross-border payments to factor those amounts back in to their taxable income before calculating the 10 percent they owe to the government. Companies must also calculate their tax liability while subtracting any tax credits, including the PTC and ITC. If the two numbers are different, the company has to pay the balance. This is troublesome for clean energy companies, since that second number goes down as the number of incentives accounted for goes up. What’s worse, the provision is also retroactive, so companies would effectively be punished for using the previous tax code to help finance existing projects.

Thank you for all you do for clean energy in North Carolina and beyond,
The NCSEA Team