2017: Schweikert Voted For The House GOP's 2017 Tax Reform Plan Which Significantly Cut Taxes For The Rich And Corporations And Phased Out The Investment Tax Credit For Solar Energy. In November 2017, Schweikert voted for reconciliation legislation which significantly altered the federal tax code. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The bill substantially restructures the U.S. tax code to simplify the code and reduce taxes on individuals, corporations and small businesses. For individuals, it consolidates the current seven tax brackets down to four and eliminates or restricts many tax credits and deductions, including by eliminating the deduction for state and local income taxes and limiting the deduction for property taxes to $10,000 and the interest deduction for a home mortgage to the first $500,000 worth of a loan. [...] On the business side, it reduces the corporate tax from 35% to 20% and establishes a 'territorial' tax system that would exempt most income derived overseas from U.S. corporate taxation. It allows businesses to immediately expense 100% of the cost of assets acquired and placed into service, and for small businesses it raises the Section 179 expensing limit to $5 million for five years. It also establishes a 25% rate for a portion of pass-through business income that would otherwise have to be paid at the ordinary individual tax level, and for small businesses where an individual would receive less than $150,000 in pass-through income it taxes the first $75,000 of that income at a 9% rate." The vote was on passage. The House passed the bill by a vote of 227 to 205. President Trump later signed an amended version of the bill into law. [House Vote 637, 11/16/17; Congressional Quarterly, 11/15/17; Congressional Actions, H.R. 1]
Bill Repeals Numerous Energy Tax Credits, Including The Per-Barrel Credit For Crude Oil And Certain Clean Energy Tax Credits. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The bill makes a number of modifications to tax credits provided for the production of energy, including repeal of the inflation adjustment for the renewable electricity production tax credit for qualified projects placed in service after Nov. 2, 2017, with the credit amount reverting to 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour (from 2.3 cents in 2016), and harmonization of the expiration dates, phase-out schedules and application of the 30% investment tax credit as applied to solar, fuel cell, and small wind energy. That investment tax credit would not be available for properties beginning construction after 2021." [Congressional Quarterly, 11/15/17]
NOTE TO RESEARCHER. Good state by state data on solar jobs and the industry can be found in the citation. [Solar Foundation, Accessed 3/1/18]
2015: Schweikert Voted Against Extending The Solar Tax Credit As Part Of The FY 2016 Omnibus. In December 2015, Schweikert voted against extending the solar tax credit. According to Congressional Quarterly, the bill "extend[ed] and phase[ed] out the 30% solar energy credit, which is set to expire at the end of 2016, by extending the credit with respect to property for which construction began before the end of 2021. JCT estimates this extension would cost $5 billion over 10 years." The legislation was, according to Congressional Quarterly, a FY 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill. The vote was on a motion to concur in the Senate amendment to the bill with an amendment. The House agreed to the motion by a vote of 316 to 113. The legislation was later combined with a tax extender bill. The Senate passed the larger measure and the president signed it. [House Vote 705, 12/18/15; Congressional Quarterly, 12/18/15; Congressional Quarterly, 12/15/15; Congressional Quarterly, 12/17/15; Congressional Actions, H.R. 2029]