Infrastructure Bill Reignites Superfund Tax Debate

The Senate-passed infrastructure bill aims to revive nineties-era taxes on chemical companies and importers to pay for cleaning up some of the nation's most contaminated sites.

While the bill still needs to clear the House, the chemicals industry claims the Superfund tax provisions are unfair because they impact a small subset of the industrial sectors that contributed to pollution. But advocates say the return of the "polluters pay" doctrine is a step in the right direction to clean up toxic sites.

On this week’s episode of our podcast, Talking Tax, corporate tax reporter David Hood talks to Steve Jawetz, a principal at the environmental law firm Beveridge and Diamond PC who argues the tax is unfairly targeted. David also talks to Danielle Melgar, an advocate with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s "Zero Out Toxics” program, about how this tax is a victory for environmental groups.

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