Minor Memos
The Wyoming governor asked the state legislature on February 1 to impose a 0.3¢ tax per kilowatt hour of electricity generated from wind farms in the state . . . . Danish holding companies are being used to launder and hide money from tax authorities in Russia and Ukraine, according to Danish tax officials. The Danish tax agency, SKAT, is investigating as
many as 500 to 1,000 such companies. Misleading accounting statements and false invoices may have been used to hide income.The money may be difficult to trace as it can move
through three and four tiers of companies, and the ultimate owners of the entities are disguised ....Congress authorized up to $2.4 billion in new “clean renewable energy bonds” in 2008 and 2009 — bonds that municipal utilities, electric cooperatives and Indian tribes can issue to finance wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable energy projects. The bonds require
payment of only a little interest; lenders who buy the bonds get tax credits from the federal government instead. Senator Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa) is trying to prevent “credit stripping,” or separately selling the tax credits. The tax code specifically allows such credit stripping, but under regulations the IRS is supposed to issue. Grassley is unhappy about the practice and has introduced a bill to stop it. The bill is S. 2826.