IRA Viewed as Plus For Ethanol, But GOP Could Target Tax Hikes if New Majority

A key Midwest Republican says the Democrats’ just-enacted Inflation Reduction Act is a plus for ethanol, but a possible GOP majority next year could try to undo some of the measure’s tax provisions.

Senate Finance and Ag Republican Chuck Grassley says parts of the Inflation Reduction Act to boost biofuel infrastructure and extend certain tax credits, are a plus for his constituent.

“How can you find fault with the money for the infrastructure for other biofuels, those are all things that I favored, they’re a benefit to the Iowa economy, the corn growers, soybean people, and the ethanol, biofuels industries.”

USDA just announced 100 million in competitive grants for higher blend infrastructure, that the ethanol industry now says is on top of 500 million in the bill for similar uses.

But Grassley expects his party to try to reverse the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax provisions, should it reclaim majorities in Congress.

“On both of them, I would expect changes. Number one, because the tax increase on corporations, according to the National Manufacturers Association, is going to cause 217,000 people to lose their job, and then, in regard to the 87,000 employees of the IRS, you know, the IRS brags about their, and this administration brags about, that they’re going after the high-income people, and they’re going after the corporations. So then, why are you putting more people on?”

Grassley and other Republicans claim, it’s to go after small business and middle-income earners, a charge the president and White House refute. Democrats argue most of the new IRS hires won’t be agents, but tech and customer service people.