In a letter sent to the Senate yesterday NACS expressed support for estate tax reform authored by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Their version would set the maximum tax rate at 35 percent and would increase the exemption level to $5 million.
"Our members believe strongly that the estate tax is inherently unfair and should be permanently repealed. However, given current conditions, NACS believes that the Lincoln-Kyl proposal represents the best alternative for business owners and the federal government.
Reforming the federal estate tax is crucial for our members. More than 65 percent of the 145,000 retail outlets are owned by families who operate three or fewer stores. Similar to many other family-run businesses in America, the heirs of convenience stores will be forced to either sell or close their family businesses if action is not taken immediately. This tax will not only have a crippling effect on the heirs of convenience stores, but will also severely impact the more than 1.5 million citizens these stores employ."
To view the letter in its entirety click here.
NACS Staff Contact: Corey Fitze, cfitze@nacsonline.com
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), the Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee put ethanol producers on notice that their 45 cents per gallon tax credit won€™t be automatically extended. The credit expires at the end of this year and lawmakers are questioning the taxpayer value being delivered. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released data citing a cost of $5.2 billion to taxpayers in 2009. Ethanol producers receive approximately 73 cents for an amount of fuel equal to the energy content of one gallon of gasoline. While Bingaman acknowledges ethanol use has contributed to a decline in oil imports he feels that the industry is now at a level of "mature technology" with a protected market share and therefore such a high credit is no longer necessary.
Meanwhile the House Ways and Means Committee could be voting next week on a proposal to extend the credit for one year at a reduced rate of 36 cents per gallon. There is an alternative idea being shopped around by Growth Energy that would divert the credit from gasoline suppliers to investments in infrastructure, gas station equipment, and flex fuel vehicles. The theory being that if more investment is made in the industry prices will fall and consumers will be enticed to choose higher blends of ethanol. This would allow for a fade out of the credit. Not all ethanol producers on are board with this approach.
This debate is likely to heat up as Congress finally considers tax extenders. There are plenty Members of Congress from corn states and they will fight hard to give the ethanol industry as much of a boost as possible.
NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger, jeichberger@nacsonline.com
The National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) held their annual meeting this week in St. Paul, Minnesota. On the agenda for discussion were two items of interest to petroleum retailers:
- Price Posting Requirements. The NCWM is convening a working group to consider changes to regulations that affect the manner in which retailers are required to post and process fuel purchase discounts. The current regulations were written at a time when the discounting practices of retailers were relatively simple, but current advancements in marketing have led to conflicts with the regulations. NACS is among the participants in this working group to ensure that retailers can continue to offer discounts to their customers without violating NCWM regulations.
- Labeling of Biodiesel. An informational item being considered by NCWM concerns the proper labeling of biodiesel. Currently, diesel containing not more than 5% bio-mass based diesel is considered by ATSM the same as regular diesel fuel is not required to be labeled at retail or on product transfer documents. Marketers are concerned that the diesel they obtain at the rack may have an undisclosed amount of biodiesel. Consequently, if they subsequently blend 5% biodiesel with that product they may inadvertently exceed the B5 limit and violate labeling requirements. Refiners are concerned that accurately identifying the biodiesel composition of diesel fuel at a terminal (which could be fed from multiple pipelines with each batch containing a different amount of biodiesel) would be cost prohibitive, requiring the testing of every batch on a continual basis. The item has not yet been resolved but NACS will be working with interested parties in an effort to resolve the conflict.
NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger, jeichberger@nacsonline.com