Hmmh. Hagel!

U.S. Tax Code Unfavorable to Investments Needed for Energy Security and Environmental Protection:

Specifically, the ACCF [American Council for Capital Formation] study found:
-- The United States generally has less favorable tax depreciation rules for electric generation, electric transmission and distribution, and petroleum refining than many other countries, including a number of the U.S.'s major trading partners.

-- The U.S. generally has slower cost recovery during the first five and ten years after the investment than the comparison countries. For example, investments in electric generation fueled by natural gas, nuclear and coal recovers less than 38% of the original investment during the first five years and 68% during the first ten years in the U.S., compared to 80% and 97%, respectively in Canada.

-- When the time value of money is taken into account, the U.S. depreciation rates remain less favorable than most of the competitor countries. Again, an investment in electric generation fueled by natural gas, nuclear and coal has a net present value of depreciation over the entire recovery period of less than 66% of the original investment in the U.S. compared to 84% in Canada.

-- Because the United States has the second highest statutory corporate marginal tax rate among OECD countries combined with generally less favorable tax depreciation rules, the differences in effective tax rates are even greater. The corporate effective tax rate on investments in electric generation fueled by natural gas, nuclear and coal is estimated at 27-31% in the U.S., compared to 14% in Canada.

-- These findings are consistent across all of the energy assets studied, including different types of electric generation, electricity transmission and distribution, pollution control equipment, and petroleum refining.

In other words, this makes it more difficult for innovative clean technology to be implemented.