"The legislation would increase tax breaks for carbon capture and carbon removal by 70 percent, potentially yielding payouts large enough to wipe out some companies’ income tax bills."

"With the Senate turning its attention to President Joe Biden’s climate and social policy bill in the coming weeks, lawmakers are poised to expand a key tax credit that energy industry lobbyists and some experts say could unleash an important climate tool.

But the legislation, which includes changes to a tax credit for removing carbon dioxide from smokestacks or the atmosphere, could also funnel tens of billions of dollars to fossil fuel companies and other polluters over the next two decades. The House passed the bill last month.

Together with the bipartisan infrastructure bill enacted in November, which included more than $12 billion in funding for carbon capture and carbon removal technologies, the Build Back Better legislation would hand fossil fuel companies nearly every item on their carbon capture wishlist.

Perhaps the most important change in the bill is a 70 percent increase in the value of the tax credit. The payouts from the expanded credit could be so large that, if energy companies reach the scale they say they can, it could largely wipe away their corporate income tax bills, according to recent comments by Erik Oswald, an ExxonMobil lobbyist."

Nicholas Kusnetz reports for Inside Climate News December 1, 2021. [2]