Levin backs clean-energy products

The next agenda item for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin consists of a package of tax breaks to boost companies that manufacture clean-energy products.

At a Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Levin said that billions of dollars in tax credits would help U.S. firms engaged in wind or solar power or battery technology to remain globally competitive.

"Our country, in this area, is playing catch up. We have lacked an energy policy for changing times and changing technologies.

"We have been behind the curve and we have been handicapped by those who feel it should be done only by the private sector," said Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County.

"The governments of other countries have not taken this view and they are racing ahead to dominate in this area.

"While we need a different partnership than those adopted by others — an American partnership — the wrong answer has been that there should be no partnership at all."

Levin and Democratic colleagues are considering an expansion of a popular tax credit program that was included in last year's federal stimulus bill. The program dedicated $2.3 billion worth of tax breaks for 183 companies, but most applicants were rejected due to the limited funding.

As a result, the Obama administration advocated another $5 billion in tax credits.

The stimulus tax credits financed 30 percent of each planned project, with the funding claimed when a proposed facility begins production.

Supporters say the tax breaks allow the recipients to leverage private capital for a total investment of nearly $7.7 billion in high-tech manufacturing across the nation.

In Michigan, two of the biggest awards went to Dow Corning and its subsidiary, Hemlock Semiconductor Corp., for assistance with plans for two new facilities that will manufacture products associated with solar panels.

At Levin's invitation, Stephanie Burns, Dow Corning CEO, testified before the committee on Wednesday. She said that countries such as China, Germany, Malaysia and the Phillipines are courting U.S. companies with 40 percent tax breaks and policies that create a high consumer demand for alternative energy products.

"Companies that hope to manufacture in the United States are faced with a tax structure that encourages them to do otherwise," Burns said. "It is time for America to enact policies that will essentially assure this industry grows here."

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