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51 Infrastructure 1 (2011-2012)

handle is hein.journals/infrastr51 and id is 1 raw text is: ABA SECTION OF PUBLIC UTILITY, COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORTATION LAW structure Debt Ceiling Debate Portends Corporate Tax Reform By David R. Hardy and Martha Groves Pugh midst the intense partisan bickering of the sum- mer months over the increase in the national debt ceiling, few areas of consensus or even compromise emerged. However, some of the announced possibilities for a compromise included increased tax revenues generally relying upon the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles bipartisan The Moment of Truth, Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibil- ity and Reform (hereinafter, the Simpson-Bowles Report or report) released in December 2010.1 The top Repub- lican leadership expressed at various times its willing- ness to consider corporate tax reforms based upon the Simpson-Bowles Report recommendations: corporate tax simplification through a reduction of spending hidden in the tax code, which the report refers to as a reduction in tax expenditures, and then a reduction in corporate tax rates.2 The final debt ceiling compromise signed into law on August 2, 2011, left many of the specifics of debt reduction for determination by a future congressional panel. It is by no means certain that corporate tax reform could be enacted prior to the upcom- ing national elections in 2012. Nonethe- less, regulated industries such as those repre- sented by the David R. Hardy Martha Groves Pugh David R. Hardy is a partner with Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in its New York office where his focus is corporate and interna- tional tax law. Martha Groves Pugh is counsel in McDermott Will & Emery LLPs Washington office with an emphasis onfed- eral income tax issues. membership of the Public Utility, Communication and Transportation Law section would do well to consider the recommendation of the Simpson-Bowles Report and the effect that such enactment might have on their busi- ness, revenues, and financial statements. Deficit Debate In the deliberations regarding the increase in the national debt limit, considerable attention was given to the impor- tance of balance in the reduction of entitlement programs coupled with new revenue sources. While the far right members of the Tea Party movement were averse to any deficit reduction funded by a source other than reduction in government spending, the more moderate elements continued on page 8 ALSO INSIDE: Liabilities Facing Developers of Wind Farms ... PAGE 3

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