Tax officials: (Ohio) House speaker's energy plan may be unfeasible

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=326381&c=y

Tax officials: House speaker's energy plan may be unfeasible

Published on Monday Jan 07, 2008

A proposal to reinvest income taxes from employees of alternative energy companies into the growing industry will hurt state coffers and may be unfeasible, state tax officials said.

House Speaker Jon Husted, who came up with the idea, responded to the state Department of Taxation's concern by saying the agency needs "new talent" if it can't start thinking about how to better develop Ohio economically.

The Kettering Republican wants to create an 11-member Ohio Renewable Energy Authority, which would eventually take state income taxes from any new jobs created in Ohio by renewable- and advanced- energy companies and invest the money back into the industry. Husted says the plan would generate at least $10 million a year to help create jobs in developing technologies such as solar power and fuel cells.

Husted wants to add his tax plan to Gov. Ted Strickland's proposal to rewrite regulations for the electricity industry, which passed the Senate and is now in the House. Initially, money from taxes paid by public utility companies would be used to meet the $10 million-a-year funding guarantee for the Renewable Energy Authority.

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