This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sen. Orrin Hatch wants to reduce gas prices by giving refineries tax incentives to expand their operations.
Hatch introduced a bill Tuesday that he hopes will remove "a major refining bottleneck," which is a contributing factor to the rise in gas prices.
Hatch said the move is not a tax cut.
His bill would allow refineries to write off the cost of the equipment used to expand the refinery capacity in one year, instead of over 10 years. This incentive would only be available for refiners who committed to increasing capacity before 2008 and started building by 2012.
The bill would allow refineries to write off the depreciation of other equipment in five years rather than 10 years.
