[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 876 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 876
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit against
income tax for expenditures for the maintenance of railroad tracks of
Class II and Class III railroads.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 25, 2003
Mr. Moran of Kansas (for himself, Mr. Camp, and Mr. Ramstad) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and
Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit against
income tax for expenditures for the maintenance of railroad tracks of
Class II and Class III railroads.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Local Railroad Rehabilitation and
Investment Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR MAINTENANCE OF RAILROAD TRACK.
(a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to business-related
credits) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 45G. RAILROAD TRACK MAINTENANCE CREDIT.
``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, the railroad track
maintenance credit determined under this section for the taxable year
is the amount of qualified railroad track maintenance expenditures paid
or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year.
``(b) Limitation.--The credit allowed under subsection (a) shall
not exceed the product of--
``(1) $10,000, and
``(2) the number of miles of railroad track owned or leased
by the taxpayer as of the close of the taxable year.
``(c) Qualified Railroad Track Maintenance Expenditures.--For
purposes of this section, the term `qualified railroad track
maintenance expenditures' means expenditures (whether or not otherwise
chargeable to capital account) for maintaining railroad track
(including roadbed, bridges, and related track structures) owned or
leased by the taxpayer of Class II or Class III railroads, but only if
the appropriate State official (for the State in which such maintenance
occurs) determines that such expenditures are for an essential rail
upgrade.
``(d) Controlled Groups.--For purposes of subsection (b), rules
similar to the rules of paragraph (1) of section 41(f) shall apply for
purposes of this subsection.
``(e) Basis Adjustment.--For purposes of this subtitle, if a credit
is allowed under this section with respect to any railroad track, the
basis of such track shall be reduced by the amount of the credit so
allowed.
``(f) Application of Section.--This section shall apply to
qualified railroad track maintenance expenditures paid or incurred
during taxable years beginning after December 31, 2003, and before
January 1, 2009.
``(g) Credit Transferability.--
``(1) In general.--The taxpayer who would (but for this
subsection) be allowed a credit under this section for any
taxable year may transfer such credit to any eligible taxpayer.
Any credit so transferred shall be allowed to the transferee,
but the transferee may not assign such credit to any other
person.
``(2) Eligible taxpayer.--For purposes of this subsection,
the term `eligible taxpayer' means--
``(A) any person who transports property using the
rail facilities of the taxpayer or who furnishes
railroad-related property or services to the taxpayer,
and
``(B) any Class II or Class III railroad.
``(3) Minimum price for transfer.--Paragraph (1) shall not
apply unless the taxpayer receives compensation for the credit
transfer equal to at least 50 percent of the amount of credit
transferred. The excess of the amount of credit transferred
over the compensation received by the taxpayer for such
transfer shall be included in the gross income of the
transferee.''
(b) Limitation on Carryback.--Section 39(d) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (relating to transition rules) is amended by adding at the
end the following new paragraph:
``(11) No carryback of railroad track maintenance credit
before effective date.--No portion of the unused business
credit for any taxable year which is attributable to the
railroad track maintenance credit determined under section 45G
may be carried to a taxable year beginning before January 1,
2004.''.
(c) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Section 38(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
(relating to general business credit) is amended by striking
``plus'' at the end of paragraph (14), by striking the period
at the end of paragraph (15) and inserting ``, plus'', and by
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(16) the railroad track maintenance credit determined
under section 45G(a).''.
(2) Subsection (a) of section 1016 of such Code is amended
by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (27), by striking
the period at the end of paragraph (28) and inserting ``,
and'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(29) in the case of railroad track with respect to which
a credit was allowed under section 45G, to the extent provided
in section 45G(e).''.
(d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart D of
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 45F the
following new item:
``Sec. 45G. Railroad track maintenance
credit.''.
(e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2003.
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