A newly released congressional compromise bill that extends the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits through the end of the year does not address tax extenders such as the U.S. Department of Treasury's Section 1603 program.
In a statement, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) president and CEO Rhone Resch called the outcome ‘disasppointing.’
‘Small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy, will bear the brunt of this inaction,’ Resch predicted. He noted that large developers have the scale and resources to obtain tax equity from other sources, while small businesses rely on the 1603 program.
The 1603 incentive – popularly known as the cash-grant program – has enabled solar installers to develop 22,000 projects nationally with an average of $153,000 in private sector investment generated by each project, according to SEIA.
