Ethanol May Not Need Its U.S. Tax Credit, GAO Finds

Congress should consider revising or ending the 45 cent-a-gallon tax credit for blending corn ethanol with gasoline, the Government Accountability Office said. The credit “may no longer be needed to stimulate conventional corn ethanol production because the domestic industry has matured,” GAO said in an Aug. 25 report posted on the investigative agency’s Web site today. Ethanol production “is well understood, and its capacity is already near” a 15 billion gallon-a-year congressional requirement for conventional ethanol, the report found. GAO estimated the tax credit supporting conventional corn ethanol production could cost the U.S. $6.75 billion in lost revenue by 2015, up from $4 billion last year...read more