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Tar Sands Tax Loophole Elimination Act
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify that products derived from tar sands are crude oil for purposes of the Federal excise tax on petroleum, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to clarify that tar sands products and other derived oils are classified as crude oil for purposes of the federal excise tax on petroleum. The definition of crude oil is expanded to explicitly include bitumen and bituminous mixtures, oil derived from tar sands, and oil derived from oil shale. The bill also authorizes the Secretary of Treasury to classify additional fuel feedstocks or finished fuel products as crude oil subject to excise tax if they align with the Oil Pollution Act's definition of oil and are produced in sufficient commercial quantities to pose a hazard if discharged. The changes take effect upon enactment.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
6 cosponsors
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT)
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD)
- Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
- Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI)
Actions (2)
- Mar 13, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- Mar 13, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 13, 2025
Mr. Markey (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Welch, Mr. Sanders, and Mr. Van Hollen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify that products derived from tar sands are crude oil for purposes of the Federal excise tax on petroleum, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Tar Sands Tax Loophole Elimination Act”.
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF TAR SANDS AS CRUDE OIL FOR EXCISE TAX PURPOSES.
(a) In General.—Paragraph (1) of section 4612(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
“(1) Crude oil.—The term ‘crude oil’ includes crude oil condensates, natural gasoline, any bitumen or bituminous mixture, any oil derived from a bitumen or bituminous mixture (including oil derived from tar sands), and any oil derived from kerogen-bearing sources (including oil derived from oil shale).”.
(b) Regulatory Authority To Address Other Types of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products.—Subsection (a) of section 4612 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(10) Regulatory authority to address other types of crude oil and petroleum products.—Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may include as crude oil or as a petroleum product subject to tax under section 4611, any fuel feedstock or finished fuel product customarily transported by pipeline, vessel, railcar, or tanker truck if the Secretary determines that—
“(A) the classification of such fuel feedstock or finished fuel product is consistent with the definition of oil under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and
“(B) such fuel feedstock or finished fuel product is produced in sufficient commercial quantities as to pose a significant risk of hazard in the event of a discharge.”.
(c) Technical Amendment.—Paragraph (2) of section 4612(a) of such Code is amended by striking “from a well located”.
(d) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. <all>
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