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House Bill Would Give Coops Tax Credits to Help Pay Retirement Costs

NRECA is supporting a bipartisan House bill that would give electric cooperatives a temporary tax credit to help keep their retirement plans funded during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Preserving Employee Retirement Savings Act would provide a two-year tax credit for up to 20% of the retirement costs paid by coops and other small businesses experiencing hardships because of the pandemic....

Majority of House Members Co-sponsor RURAL Act

A majority of the members of the House of Representatives are co-sponsoring the RURAL Act, which is a bill addressing electric cooperatives’ tax-exempt status.

House Lawmakers Co-sponsor Bill to Solve Unintended Tax Consequence Problem

A bipartisan majority in the U.S. House of Representatives recently co-sponsored legislation to fix an unintended consequence for electric cooperatives from the 2017 federal tax law changes. Under the current federal tax laws that were adopted in 2017, coops that receive federal, state or local government grants are at risk of losing their tax-exempt status. The RURAL Act aims to...

Congress Moves to Fix Unintended Tax Consequences for Coops

Earlier this week, Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle introduced legislation to fix an unintended consequence of the 2017 tax law that put tax-exempt cooperatives at risk of losing that status. The new bill would roll back provisions of the 2017 tax law that counted grants for broadband development, emergency relief and other items as non-member income.

D.C. Circuit Hears Challenge to Clean Power Plan

Ten D.C. Circuit judges heard argument regarding the EPA’s authority to enact the Clean Power Plan and the rule’s constitutionality.  All active judges on the D.C. Circuit, with the exception of Merrick Garland, heard arguments from state government, power industry groups, the federal government and environmental groups.

Wind Energy Strong in 2015

Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that wind energy accounted for over 41 percent of generating capacity additions in 2015.  Wind energy’s growth was strongest in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and North Dakota.  But resource availability in windy states was not the only driving factor in the growth that 2015 saw, as the federal production tax credit continued to...

Tennessee AG Scales Back Cooperative Tax Breaks

The Tennessee attorney general (AG) has stated that the state’s rural electric cooperatives are not entitled to a tax break that has been used since the late 1980s entitling cooperatives a temporary exemption from local property taxes after building a new facility or plant.  The AG opines that the state constitution does not allow this break because cooperatives are neither government...

Mohave Electric Cooperative Serves Members with New Solar Facility

Arizona’s Mohave Electric Cooperative (MEC) is now purchasing power from a new utility-grade solar facility to supply its members with renewable power.  The facility is currently owned by a private developer, whose appetite for the associated tax credits improved the economics of the deal for MEC and its members, and will be owned by MEC when the tax credits have been exhausted.  Click...

South Dakota Legislature Overrides Governor Veto Regarding Coop Taxes

South Dakota state lawmakers voted to override Governor Dennis Daugaard’s decision to veto a measure that will slightly reduce taxes for electric cooperatives.  The tax plan in question will roll back a recent administrative decision on how state tax for electric cooperatives is determined.  The bill will exclude municipal taxes from the calculation of state tax liability.  To read...

Reduction in South Dakota Coop Taxes Vetoed

South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard has vetoed a bill that would have slightly reduced electric cooperatives’ taxes by rolling back a recent administrative decision on how state tax for electric cooperatives is determined and excluding municipal taxes from calculations of state tax liability. Click here for more.

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