U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Mark Warner (D-VA) are espousing the benefits of their bill amending the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit broadband grants taxation.
The Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act seeks to exclude broadband deployment grants awarded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and American Rescue Plan (ARP) from an organization’s income, ensuring all of the federal dollars awarded to companies to deploy broadband nationwide can be used completely for that purpose.
“Reliable, high-speed internet is more crucial than ever for Kansans to run their businesses, access telehealth, or pursue an education,” Moran said. “This commonsense legislation would make certain federal grants provided for broadband deployment are not counted as taxable income to maximize the impact and success of these resources.”
Warner said every dollar set aside to fund broadband expansion and deployment should be used to fully reap the benefits of the IIJA and ARP.
“Taxing these broadband investments awards would be counter-productive and could ultimately diminish efforts to give more Americans access to high-speed internet,” he said.
NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield said the organization is grateful Congress committed billions of dollars to broadband deployment grants through recent bills seeking to aid in closing the nation’s digital divide.
“It is critical that all broadband grant funds go toward their intended purpose of network deployment,” she said. “NTCA is proud to support the Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act, and on behalf of our members, I want to thank Sens. Warner and Moran for introducing the bill. This legislation will maximize the impact of every dollar granted for broadband deployment and further the mission of getting every American connected.”