NCGA Applauds President Bush for Signing Corporate Tax Bill
(10-22-04)
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) today commended President
George W. Bush for signing into law the American JOBS Creation
Act of 2004, also known as the corporate tax bill. The legislation
supports expansion of the ethanol industry, promotes job growth
and benefits rural communities. The president signed the bill
this morning aboard Air Force One.
“
We thank President Bush for signing this important piece of legislation
into law,” said Leon Corzine, NCGA president and Illinois
corn grower. “He kept his promise to corn growers by continuing
to support expansion of the ethanol industry and the use of renewable
fuels. Communities across the United States -- not just in rural
areas -- will benefits from this bill.”
The corporate
tax bill includes both the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit
(VEETC) provision and biodiesel tax incentives. The
VEETC provision will extend to 2010 an existing tax incentive for
using ethanol-blended gasoline, and will re-direct funds generated
by an excise tax on ethanol to the highway trust fund (HTF). The
biodiesel incentive provision creates a new tax credit of $1 per
gallon for agri-biodiesel, and 50 cents per gallon for biodiesel
(recycled oil). Some elements of the small ethanol producer
tax credit provision are also included in the bill. Specifically,
the bill allows the tax credit to be passed through to the farmer
owners of a cooperative, and allows the tax credit to be offset
against the alternative minimum tax.
“We appreciate the efforts by Congress to get this important
piece of legislation passed and to the president’s desk,” Corzine
said. “This legislation is a major victory for corn growers,
the U.S. agriculture sector and all American consumers. President
Bush understands the importance of agriculture to the economic
growth of this country, and he recognizes that ethanol will continue
to play an important role in the future of agriculture.”