46 | Business World Magazine |
April 2014
but we are working diligently to see that we
can get the tax credit extended and enhanced.
Beyond that, there was an act passed in
2008, the Rail Safety Improvement Act, that
regulations were going to be put forth for this,
that and the other thing. So we’ve been work-
ing to address those issues as those translate
into actual regulations with specifics. I would
say those are probably the two biggest things
we’ve got going right now – the effort to renew
and enhance the short line tax credit, which
was renewed in 2004, and also to mitigate or
make work the various regulations that come
down the pike from the Federal Railroad Ad-
ministration and other regulating bodies.
BW: What are the prospects for renewal of
the tax credit? Does it look good?
MEARS: We’re cautiously optimistic. We
relate it to the past when the credit has been
extended at the last minute with other deserv-
ing tax credits, as part of a omnibus bill that
bundles them all together in what’s called a tax
expendage package. So we’re cautiously opti-
mistic and working hard to see that it, as it has
in the past, gets renewed.
BW: Has that been a fairly bipartisan type of
thing?
MEARS:
Yes, it has. The Senate had 49 sup-
porters and we’re confident that we can get
a majority of the Senate to support it. The
House bill, which is pretty much identical in
content, has 229 co-sponsors and that number
is changing daily as our members go out and
talk to their congressmen and congresswomen
about the importance of this tax credit. So we
have majority support in the House and we ex-
pect that we can convince people to get major-
