Assembly Bill 219 proposes the establishment of a tax credit for rail infrastructure modernization in Wisconsin. This bill allows class II and class III railroads, as classified by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, to claim a credit for 50% of their qualified short line railroad maintenance expenditures and qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures. The credit for maintenance is capped at $5,000 multiplied by the number of miles of track owned or leased, while the credit for new infrastructure is limited to $2,000,000 per project. Claimants must apply to the Department of Revenue (DOR) for approval, with a total cap of $10,000,000 in credits available each tax year, allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

The bill also includes specific definitions for qualified expenditures and outlines the application process, including limitations on claiming credits for expenditures already funded by federal or state grants. Additionally, partnerships, tax-option corporations, and limited liability companies are excluded from directly claiming the credit, although their members can claim credits based on their proportional ownership interests. The bill amends several sections of the statutes to incorporate these changes, including the addition of new subsections related to the rail infrastructure modernization credit.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text: 71.05(6)(a)15, 71.05, 71.21(4)(a), 71.21, 71.26(2)(a)4, 71.26