News from NUCA of NM

Although national unemployment remains by far the highest profile issue in Washington, D.C. and will likely remain so into next year, the issue of extending tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 is getting a lot of talk because they are scheduled to expire at the end of this year if Congress does not act. This will result in a massive increase in tax rates on dividends, capital gains, all levels of income, and estates, starting in January. The President and most of the Majority Leadership in both houses of Congress have consistently called for extending the income tax rate cuts for middle-income taxpayers, but have ignored meaningful estate tax reform and extensions of tax cuts on capital gains and dividends. NUCA continues its decades long fight for estate tax (death tax) repeal, although we support a reform proposal that would at least reduce the top rate to $35 percent and provide a $5 million exemption before 2001 levels return, imposing a 55% rate and a meager $1 million exemption.

While the death tax remains a priority issue at NUCA, we are also concerned with the ramifications raising taxes on capital gains and dividends will have on NUCA members across the country. This week, NUCA signed on to a letter from American employers of all stripes that was sent to both the House and Senate in support of extension of the 15 percent capital gains and dividends tax rate.The letter points out that unless the 111th Congress acts before adjourning later this year, the tax rate for capital gains will increase by 33 percent, while the rate on dividends could increase by as much as 164 percent, "resulting in one of the largest tax increases in U.S. history." NUCA will continue to work with fellow business associations to encourage Congress not to "discourage investment but to work together to keep the economy on the road to recovery."

T&I Subcommittee Discusses Pipeline Awareness and Education
Last week, the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials held a hearing on pipeline safety public awareness and education programs. The hearing was the fourth in a series of hearings that the Subcommittee will conduct on pipeline safety this year, when the next pipeline reauthorization bill is being developed. The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2001 required each owner or operator of a gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to carry out a program to educate the public on possible hazards associated with pipeline releases, physical indications that such releases may have occurred, steps to be taken to ensure public safety in the event of a pipeline release, and how to report such an event. The law also required that awareness and public education include use of one-call notification systems prior to excavation and other damage prevention activities. In his opening statement, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) referred to a recent excavation-related pipeline incident that occurred in Texas. "In one instance, drilling equipment used to install utility poles had punctured an underground pipeline," the chairman said. "The resulting explosion killed one worker and injured eight others. In this instance, the workers had done the right thing and placed a call to 811, the nationwide "Call Before You Dig" hotline to request that the operator of the pipeline send someone out to mark its location. What is unclear is whether the pipeline operator followed through or not." NUCA continues to remind Congress that attempts to enhance public education and awareness, like damage prevention itself, must address the issue from all sides. Educational efforts toward facility operators and their contract locators about locating and marking responsibilities must be considered integral to a balanced and effective awareness program.