Green tax credits, environmental policy, and how sustainability and climate initiatives show up in the tax code.
In celebration of Earth Day, the state of Missouri is offering a sales tax holiday this week on all “Energy Star” rated appliances. The “Show Me” state is launching a “Show Me Green” tax holiday on energy-efficient appliances. From April 19 until midnight on April 25, 2009, residents can buy qualifying appliances and skip on…
Okay, so maybe they didn’t say it quite like that… But farmers in Minnesota are taking it that way. A program in Minnesota called the Green Acres Program was supposed to offer property tax relief to farmers in the state, much like programs in other states. In Pennsylvania, for example, there is a similar “Clean…
In what feels like deja vu all over again, the Senate and the House failed to worked together over the past two weeks to pass legislation. Last week, the Senate voted 93-2 to extend the solar energy investment and wind energy production tax credits. The credits were set to expire at the end of this…
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has announced that the country will not tax sporks and other plastic utensils after all. The French government has conceded that now is perhaps not the best time to introduce the products now because many French are already worried about their declining purchasing power. Indeed, those opposed to the tax…
You only have to a take a peek at the Olympic coverage on NBC to confirm what tourists already know: China has a smog problem. On the opening day of the Olympic games in Beijing, video and photos showed shots such as the one above, of the National Stadium, shrouded in smog. And of course,…
Senate Republicans blocked a proposal today that would tax the windfall profits of the country’s largest oil companies. The GOP put together 43 votes, which left the Democrats 9 votes short of what they needed to break a filibuster and bring the proposal to a vote. Democrats had urged Congress to pass the bill, with…
There were some pretty strong opinions on my prior post regarding the proposed carbon tax in Canada. It was great to hear from both sides of the argument. If you’re interested in more information about the carbon tax poll – and why it might not be a great idea – check out this post from…
A new study suggests that Canadians may be in support of a “carbon tax” on activities that cause climate change. The McAllister Opinion Research survey, commissioned for the Pembina Institute, revealed that Canadians would not expect such a tax to offset current taxes and would, instead, prefer that the revenue be used to improve energy…
The price of oil has increased, on average, $1/barrel over the past month. The result is that gas is likely to top $5/gallon at the pump this summer – compared to $2.80/gallon last year. What does this mean in pure dollars? According to the Energy Information Administration (from Department of Energy), the average American uses…
You can pray for McCain’s gas tax holiday. You can walk more. You can carpool. Or you can consider not driving a car that takes $100 in gas to fill up… After my post about going green, a reader – and fellow attorney – sent me a link to a memo that he prepared on…