Those last few sections were no fun, but now we get back into the drama. This section explains the messy divorce between President Trump and his ex-BFF Elon Musk. This is taking on and eliminating much of the green new deal and taking away tax credits for green energy and solar. It also goes into the first sections of Medicare.
70501 to 70515 cuts short many clean energy and efficiency tax credits, ending them years earlier than planned. Most of these credits are used for new clean vehicles by late 2025, energy-efficient home improvements by the end of 2025, and clean hydrogen and clean electricity credits several years sooner. It also tightens rules to stop foreign-owned companies from claiming certain clean energy tax benefits and increases U.S. content requirements for clean energy projects. Some credits for advanced energy projects and clean fuels are extended but with stricter rules, including limits on where fuel materials can come from and preventing double payments. Overall, the law focuses on encouraging U.S.-based clean energy production while ending or limiting many incentives earlier than before.
Starting with 70522 these sections ban certain foreign owned companies from getting carbon capture tax credits and updates payment rules for new carbon projects. It changes how oil and gas companies report income by requiring them to count drilling costs more directly, reducing tax breaks starting in 2026. It allows publicly traded partnerships to treat income from clean energy sources like hydrogen, carbon capture, nuclear, hydro, and geothermal as qualifying for tax benefits beginning in 2026. Finally, it lets businesses get fuel tax refunds if they mistakenly paid tax on dyed fuel that’s normally tax-exempt, starting six months after the law is passed.
Starting with 70601 this group of laws makes several important tax changes. It permanently limits how much businesses can lose to use to reduce taxes and updates how that limit is calculated. It clarifies tax rules for payments from partnerships to partners for services or property given, applying only to future payments. It closes a loophole that let companies dodge limits on tax deductions for executive pay by splitting salaries across related firms, now requiring fair sharing of the $1 million cap among them. Starting in 2026, a 1% tax applies to certain cash-based money transfers sent from the U.S., with some payment methods exempted. The law also cracks down on fraud involving COVID-related employee retention tax credits by penalizing promoters who fail to do proper checks and limits new claims after January 2024. Treasury is funded $15 million to study and report on replacing the IRS’s direct e-file system, exploring costs, taxpayer preferences, and options for free tax filing partnerships with private companies. The part that is more applicable to most of us, is starting in 2026, education tax credits require taxpayers and students to include SS Numbers and schools’ IDs on tax returns to claim the credit. If claiming for someone else they also need SS numbers
Now we are getting to the part I have been waiting for Medicaid. This is possible the section that has received the most scrutiny. The first three parts (A-C) of the Medicaid sections mostly deal with getting rid of fraud and who is eligible to receive it. This law makes several changes to Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP programs. It requires states to prevent people from enrolling in multiple states’ by verifying addresses and sharing data. It mandates regular death checks to remove deceased patients and providers from Medicaid; tightens penalties on states with too many payment errors starting 2030. It requires more frequent eligibility checks for some Medicaid recipients starting 2027 and allows states to raise home value limits for Medicaid long-term care eligibility starting 2028. It restricts federal Medicaid funding to only citizens with certain exemptions and reduces federal payments for emergency care for undocumented immigrants. Finally, what might be the most controversial part it bars Medicaid funds to abortion providers except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.
This is just the first of several sections on Medicaid, but I need to stop and grade finals so I will get back to this when I can.
Historically Speaking 