II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3234 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a temporary income 

tax credit for commercial fishermen to offset high fuel costs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2008 

Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. STEVENS) 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 provide 

a temporary income tax credit for commercial fishermen 

to offset high fuel costs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fisheries Fuel Tax 

5 Relief Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY CREDIT AGAINST INCOME TAX FOR 

7 COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN TO OFFSET HIGH 

8 FUEL COSTS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub10 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 


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1 1986 (relating to business-related credits) is amended by 

2 inserting after section 45P the following new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 45Q. TEMPORARY CREDIT FOR COMMERCIAL FISHER4 MEN TO OFFSET HIGH FUEL COSTS. 

5 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli6 gible taxpayer, the excessive fuel cost credit determined 

7 under this section is an amount equal to the excessive fuel 

8 cost paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable 

9 year for any creditable fuel used in the trade or business 

10 of the taxpayer. 

11 ‘‘(b) EXCESSIVE FUEL COST.—For purposes of this 

12 section— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘excessive fuel 

14 cost’ means, with respect to any creditable fuel, the 

15 excess (if any) of— 

16 ‘‘(A) the amount paid or incurred by the 

17 taxpayer for such fuel, over 

18 ‘‘(B) the adjusted base price for such fuel. 

19 ‘‘(2) ADJUSTED BASE PRICE.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘adjusted 

21 base price’ means, with respect to any cred22 itable fuel, the amount determined by the Sec23 retary to be the applicable Labor Day 2004 

24 price for such fuel adjusted for inflation. 


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1 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE PRICE.—The applicable 

2 Labor Day 2004 price for any fuel is the aver3 age price for such fuel for the region in which 

4 the taxpayer purchased such fuel (as deter5 mined using data of the Energy Information 

6 Agency of the Department of Energy). 

7 ‘‘(C) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—The infla8 tion adjustment shall be determined under the 

9 principles of section 1(f); except that, the Sec10 retary shall use estimates of the monthly Con11 sumer Price Index (as defined in such section) 

12 where possible to more closely reflect current 

13 inflation. 

14 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE TAXPAYER.—For purposes of this sec15 tion— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible taxpayer’ 

17 means any person engaged in the trade or business 

18 of commercial fishing (as defined in section 3 of the 

19 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Man20 agement Act (16 U.S.C. 1802)). 

21 ‘‘(2) CREDITABLE FUEL.—The term ‘creditable 

22 fuel’ means gasoline and diesel fuel used as a fuel 

23 in a commercial vessel. 


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1 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall 

2 apply to fuels purchased during the 2-year period begin3 ning on the date of the enactment of this section.’’. 

4 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

5 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of such Code is 

6 amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (31), 

7 by striking the period at the end of paragraph (32) and 

8 inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the following 

9 new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(33) in the case of an eligible taxpayer (as de11 fined in section 45Q(c)), the excessive fuel cost cred12 it determined under section 45Q(a).’’. 

13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

15 of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat16 ing to section 45P the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45Q. Temporary credit for commercial fishermen to offset high fuel 

costs.’’. 

17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply to taxable years ending after the 

19 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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