A pair of senators introduced legislation Monday to expand access to tax-exempt bonds and federal tax credits to provide more money to state and local governments to spend on fixing the nation’s aging infrastructure.
[IMGCAP(1)]Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D., introduced the Move America Act of 2015, to expand tax-exempt private activity bonds and create a new infrastructure tax credit, giving states flexibility to pursue infrastructure projects that are badly needed across the country.
“To get the American economy moving again, Congress needs to pursue every avenue it can to take on the growing infrastructure crisis,” Wyden said in a statement. “Move America will turbocharge investment and give states and localities the flexibility they need to quickly and efficiently break ground on projects. An injection of private capital, in addition to sustainable funding for transportation programs, will help get America’s economic engine running at full speed.”
The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated that the U.S. needs over $3.6 trillion of additional investment by 2020. The Move America program is designed to leverage additional private investment in public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, ports, rail and airports. The program creates Move America Bonds, to expand tax-exempt financing for public-private partnerships, and Move America Credits, to leverage additional private equity investment at a lower cost for states. The bill would provide up to $180 billion in tax-exempt bond authority and up to $45 billion in infrastructure tax credits for states over the next 10 years.
[IMGCAP(2)]“Move America bonds and tax credits are an effective way to leverage private-sector dollars to build the infrastructure we need across the country to grow America’s economy and create jobs,” said Hoeven. “We have bipartisan support for this effort and seek to do it in a way that incentivizes private investment, leverages the P3 program and is fully paid for so that it doesn’t increase the deficit.”
An overview of the bill can be
