Ways & Means Chairman Calls for Expanded Low-Carbon Tax Credits

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., called on Congress to expand tax credits that support domestic manufacture of renewable and other low-carbon technologies, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Levin, at a committee hearing, was quoted as saying: "We have to make certain this demand is satisfied with goods produced in the U.S. If we are not aggressive about expanding our green manufacturing capacity, these manufacturing jobs will be created overseas and the United States will become more reliant on products that are produced outside of our borders."

The Obama administration has proposed an additional $5 billion in tax credits for the manufacturers to supplement the $2.3 billion in last year's federal economic stimulus bill. The administration and Democrats proposed paying for the initiative by cutting tax credits for the oil and natural gas industry, a move opposed by Republicans on Ways and Means. Rep. Dave Camp, R.-Mich., the tax panel's ranking member, was quoted as saying: "I don't know how you can tax 85 percent of energy and still grow the economy."