SunEdison is one of the seven companies and they declined to comment on the letter or their response.
Congressional investigators are examining the use of tax incentives for solar-power companies, third-party financing and how the companies determine the value of the credits.
At issue is a Treasury Department policy that gives solar firms a 30% investment tax credit on the cost of acquiring a system. The tax credit provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction in income taxes otherwise owed by a taxpayer; the companies could also opt to get a grant instead of a credit.
Since companies like SunEdison do not generate taxable income to apply the tax credit to, they typically transfer the credits to investors or end users. There is great uncertainty about how solar installations are valued and this is critical to the creation of the tax credits as they are 30% of this value to first order.
Another issue is the Government does not have a tracking mechanism to track which companies have received tax credits and if they have used them or transferred them to others. Since these credits can exist for a very long time, companies could use the same credits more than once and the Government would have no way of knowing.
Questions abound with respect to the credits allowed to SunEdison. Have they received/created any credits? Have they been transferred to their subsidiary Buckthorn-Westex? Has Buckthorn-Westex been sold with credits with the approval of the bankruptcy court?
It's time for the City to tell the citizen/taxpayers what is going on as it affects each and everyone of us.
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