Here's a letter that some of us got from Graham Noyes (presumably in his World Energy, not private citizen guise) a while back. It came after Coby Smolens cc'd Graham a mass email that Coby was sending out to some local biodiesel users, encouraging them to do a letterwriting campaign to encourage a local gas station owner who we hoped would sell biodiesel. Coby had mentioned that there was a federal tax waiver for biodiesel being 'implemented in legistlature' , listed Graham as a contact for more info, and I think Graham was responding to that in the letter below.
But Graham;'s letter had this interesting local ripple effect, coming right after the Welsh SVO driver prosecutions in stirring up a few locals who are very worried that a tax bust is imminent (there is nothing to substantiate this of course, that's paranoia, and the reaction to doing something new and groundbreaking like driving SVO/homebrew bd) As I mentioned before, there's a Sonoma County SVO-user who's taken on trying to find the state-level officials that one should pay their taxes to, and has done some educating of the office involved. I'll try and find out more about the results sometime and post updates. part of Graham Noyes' letter to our local mass email recipients: Biodiesel is taxed just like petroleum diesel fuel by both the federal and state governments. While there are many good reasons that biodiesel should receive more favorable tax treatment, these have not yet been translated into any kind of exemption. My background is in law and I have personally reviewed the state and federal laws and regulations pertaining to fuel taxation. Biodiesel, including B100 and even raw vegetable oil, is subject to the exact same road tax as petroleum diesel. There are substantial penalties that can result from not paying these taxes and I am aware of at least one biodiesel seller being prosecuted for failure to pay these taxes. I do not want to discourage anyone from using biodiesel. I just want to make sure that none of the good people that are working toward a cleaner more sustainable future find themselves suddenly in tax trouble. We all have better things to worry about. Someone along the supply chain needs to pay the tax- if it is not the final seller, it should be the wholesaler. Feel free to contact me if you want any additional information on this. Thanks again for your work on biodiesel. Best Regards, Graham Noyes Director, US West World Energy Alternatives, LLC 408 Broad Street, #11B Nevada City, CA 95959 530-478-9196 PH 530-478-9197 FAX [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.worldenergy.net >Hi Mark > >It's a bit confused-confusing. Tom Leue (Homestead, Yellow Biodiesel) >posted the original message, it was quite badly snipped and you >couldn't tell who'd said what. I don't know where Tom got it from - >well, World Energy, but I didn't see anything about it at their >website, so it would have been an email from someone there I suppose. >Here it is again: > > >Here is a communication from World Energy about government actions against > >one of the few biodiesel producers in the Northeast. Be forwarned. > > > >Snip> > >We run into a lot of small producers who are trying to do the right thing, > >but I would be remiss if I did not warn about the severity of cutting > corners > >from an IRS or EPA standpoint. > > > >Any biodiesel producer or seller needs to understand that any biodiesel used > >(not sold)as fuel in an on-road vehicle is subject to on-road tax. We have a > >number of producers around the country who do not want to deal with the tax, > >and sell it tax exempt. This fuel does often end up in peoples vehicles. > Just > >as you and I pay tax at the pump, it is the user who is ultimately > >responsible for road tax. > > > >We just had a small producer in another state in a similar situation. They > >own a number of diesel vehicles and have been using it for about a year. > They > >were just hit with bill for $0.31/gallon State excise tax plus penalties and > >interest for every gallon they have produced. In addition, since the > fuel was > >used in on-road vehicles, the Federal Government can (and most likely will) > >fine up to $10.00/gallon for every gallon used. The organization in Maine is > >a non-profit agency and is therefore tax exempt. They also do not sell any > >fuel to te outside world. > > > >Many of these small producers are yet to realize how sad the ending may > be. I > >don't mean to sound rude or abrupt, but the tax consequences can be quite > >severe. I have already seen it happen once. I think we will see it happen > >again. > >I was asked off-list if that was the Chewonki Foundation or Solar >Market in Maine, and I didn't know. Later Peter Arnold of the >Chewonki Foundation wrote: > > > The organization referenced can not be from Maine because our state road > > tax is $0.23/gallon. The communication got snipped and doesn't make as > > much sense as it could. The " organization in Maine is a non-profit agency > > and is therefore tax exempt. They also do not sell any fuel to the outside > > world." line refers to the part of this communication that got snipped. > > The "small producer in another state" and the "organization in Maine" are > > differernt organizations. Since no name is included however I don't know > > who the Maine organization is. Peter > >That's all I know. > >Best > >Keith > > > > > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: ><http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html>http://journeytoforever.org >/biofuel.html > >Biofuels list archives: ><http://archive.nnytech.net/>http://archive.nnytech.net/ > >Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. >To unsubscribe, send an email to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the ><http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>Yahoo! Terms of Service. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
