Rebuild America Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2864 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the excise tax on gasoline, diesel, and kerosene fuels. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 21, 2019 Mr. BLUMENAUER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the excise tax on gasoline, diesel, and kerosene fuels. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rebuild America Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 It is the sense of Congress that by 2029 the gas tax 7 should be repealed and replaced with a more sustainable, 8 stable funding source. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:13 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2864.IH H2864 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2864 IH SEC. 3. TAX ON MOTOR FUELS. 1 (a) GASOLINE OTHER THAN AVIATION GASOLINE.— 2 Section 4081(a)(2)(A)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 3 1986 is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(i) in the case of gasoline other than 5 aviation gasoline— 6 ‘‘(I) for tax imposed before 2020, 7 18.3 cents per gallon, 8 ‘‘(II) for tax imposed during 9 2020, 23.3 cents per gallon, 10 ‘‘(III) for tax imposed during 11 2021, 28.3 cents per gallon, 12 ‘‘(IV) for tax imposed during 13 2022, 33.3 cents per gallon, 14 ‘‘(V) for tax imposed during 15 2023, 38.3 cents per gallon, and 16 ‘‘(VI) for tax imposed after 2023, 17 43.3 cents per gallon,’’. 18 (b) DIESEL FUEL OR KEROSENE.—Section 19 4081(a)(2)(A)(iii) of such Code is amended to read as fol- 20 lows: 21 ‘‘(iii) in the case of diesel fuel or ker- 22 osene— 23 ‘‘(I) for tax imposed before 2020, 24 24.3 cents per gallon, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:13 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2864.IH H2864 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2864 IH ‘‘(II) for tax imposed during 1 2020, 29.3 cents per gallon, 2 ‘‘(III) for tax imposed during 3 2021, 34.3 cents per gallon, 4 ‘‘(IV) for tax imposed during 5 2022, 39.3 cents per gallon, 6 ‘‘(V) for tax imposed during 7 2023, 44.3 cents per gallon, and 8 ‘‘(VI) for tax imposed after 2023, 9 49.3 cents per gallon.’’. 10 (c) INCREASE FOR INFLATION.—Section 4081(a)(2) 11 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(E) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—In 14 the case of any calendar year beginning after 15 2024, the rates of tax contained in clauses (i) 16 and (iii) of subparagraph (A) shall each be in- 17 creased by an amount equal to— 18 ‘‘(i) such rate, multiplied by 19 ‘‘(ii) the cost of living adjustment de- 20 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal- 21 endar year, determined by substituting 22 ‘calendar year 2023’ for ‘calendar year 23 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) thereof. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:13 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2864.IH H2864 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2864 IH Any increase under the preceding sentence shall 1 be rounded to the nearest 0.1 cents.’’. 2 (d) DIESEL-WATER FUEL EMULSION.—Section 3 4081(a)(2)(D) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘ ‘19.7 4 cents’ for ‘24.3 cents’ ’’ and inserting ‘‘a rate equal to 71 5 percent of the rate in effect under such subparagraph 6 (without regard to this subparagraph)’’. 7 (e) TERMINATION.—Section 4081(d)(1) of such Code 8 is amended by striking ‘‘September 30, 2022’’ and insert- 9 ing ‘‘December 31, 2029’’. 10 (f) ALLOCATION IN ACCOUNTS IN HIGHWAY TRUST 11 FUND.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 9503(e)(2)(A) of the 13 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read 14 as follows: 15 ‘‘(A) except as otherwise provided in this 16 sentence— 17 ‘‘(i) 2.86 cents per gallon with respect 18 to taxes imposed during calendar years be- 19 fore 2020, 20 ‘‘(ii) 3.86 cents per gallon with re- 21 spect to taxes imposed during calendar 22 year 2020, 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:13 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2864.IH H2864 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2864 IH ‘‘(iii) 4.86 cents per gallon with re- 1 spect to taxes imposed during calendar 2 year 2021, 3 ‘‘(iv) 5.86 cents per gallon with re- 4 spect to taxes imposed during calendar 5 year 2022, 6 ‘‘(v) 6.86 cents per gallon with respect 7 to taxes imposed during calendar year 8 2023, and 9 ‘‘(vi) 7.86 center per gallon with re- 10 spect to taxes imposed after calendar year 11 2023,’’. 12 (2) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—Section 13 9503(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 14 amended by adding at the end the following new 15 paragraph: 16 ‘‘(6) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—In the 17 case of any calendar year beginning after 2024, the 18 rate of tax contained in paragraph (2)(A) shall be 19 increased by an amount equal to— 20 ‘‘(A) such rate, multiplied by 21 ‘‘(B) the cost of living adjustment deter- 22 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 23 year, determined by substituting ‘calendar year 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:13 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2864.IH H2864 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2864 IH 2023’ for ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph 1 (A)(ii) thereof. 2 Any increase under the preceding sentence shall be 3 rounded to the nearest 0.1 cents.’’. 4 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 5 this section shall apply to fuel removed, entered, or sold 6 after December 31, 2018. 7 SEC. 4. FLOOR STOCKS TAX. 8 (a) IMPOSITION OF TAX.—In the case of taxed fuel 9 to which a qualified person holds title on January 1, 2020, 10 there is hereby imposed on such fuel a tax at a rate of 11 5 cents per gallon. 12 (b) TAXED FUEL DEFINED.—The term ‘‘taxed fuel’’ 13 means taxable fuel (as such term is defined in section 14 4083(a)(1)), other than aviation fuel, on which tax was 15 imposed (and not credited or refunded) under section 16 4081 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 before Janu- 17 ary 1, 2020. 18 (c) QUALIFIED PERSON DEFINED.—For purposes of 19 this section— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified person’’ 21 means a person who, on January 1, 2020, holds title 22 to not less than 2,000 gallons of taxed fuel (other 23 than fuel held in the tank of a motor vehicle or mo- 24 torboat) held for sale. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:13 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2864.IH H2864 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2864 IH (2) AGGREGATION RULE.—For purposes of the 1 2,000 gallon requirement, all members of the same 2 controlled group of corporations (within the meaning 3 of section 267(f)) and all persons under common 4 control (within the meaning of section 52(b) but de- 5 termined by treating an interest of more than 50 6 percent as a controlling interest) shall be treated as 7 1 person. 8 (d) OTHER PROVISIONS OF LAW.—All provisions of 9 law, including penalties, applicable with respect to the 10 taxes imposed by section 4081 of the Internal Revenue 11 Code of 1986 shall, insofar as applicable and not incon- 12 sistent with the provisions of this section, apply with re- 13 spect to the taxes imposed by subsection (a) to the same 14 extent as if such taxes were imposed by such section 4081. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:13 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2864.IH H2864 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS