HYDE-SMITH INTRODUCES BILL TO MAKE AMERICAN HARDWOOD, PRODUCTS ELIGIBLE FOR FEDERAL TAX CREDIT

HYDE-SMITH INTRODUCES BILL TO MAKE AMERICAN HARDWOOD, PRODUCTS ELIGIBLE FOR FEDERAL TAX CREDIT

The 'Solid American Hardwood Tax Credit Act' Would Enhance Local Forest Economies, Benefit Consumers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today introduced legislation to allow consumers to claim a tax credit for purchasing solid American hardwood products for their homes, a measure intended to shore up a hard-hit American industry made up of small sawmills and family-owned secondary manufacturers.

The Solid American Hardwood Tax Credit Act would allow individual taxpayers to include solid American manufactured hardwood products as qualified home energy efficiency improvements under the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit. The credit would apply to any flooring, paneling, millwork, cabinetry doors, cabinetry facing, window, or skylight, comprised of deciduous trees grown and processed in the United States.

"Mississippi's sawmills and rural communities that depend on timber have been hit hard by the same economic challenges facing the entire industry. This bill is designed to support the domestic hardwood industry and the jobs it provides while making American-made hardwood products more affordable for families," Hyde-Smith said.

"Our goal with this legislation is to preserve rural manufacturing jobs and sawmill operations that are critical to local economies and national security supply chains, while encouraging the use of environmentally sustainable wood products over cheap, Chinese-made synthetic alternatives," the Senator continued.

Despite the significance of the forestry sector to Mississippi's economy, the state's hardwood industry has been affected by a severe national decline. The domestic hardwood-grade lumber market has fallen from 6.5 billion board feet to less than 2 billion board feet in the past 26 years. Much of this decline is associated with foreign substitutes that often contain harmful chemicals and larger carbon footprints than sustainably harvested American hardwoods.

The Solid American Hardwood Tax Credit Act would amend the Internal Revenue Code to qualify American hardwood products for the home improvement energy efficiency tax credits under Section 25c of the Internal Revenue Code while offsetting the cost of the bill by eliminating a costly bonus tax credit created in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA bonus credit provides increased subsidies for carbon capture projects only if union labor requirements are met. As such the bill would end a provision that allows the federal government to pick winners and losers.

The bill also falls in line with a March executive order issued by President Trump, which called for the immediate expansion of American timber production and tasked the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to craft legislative proposals to improve timber production and forest management.

Hyde-Smith's legislation is the Senate companion bill to a House bill (HR.3322) introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-Pa.) and U.S. Representative Terri Sewell (D-Ala.). The National Hardwood Lumber Association supports the legislation.

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