Ruling Will Boost Pulp Makers’ Gains from Black Liquor Boondoggle

A favorable ruling from a Congressional committee will add millions more dollars to what U.S. pulp and paper companies gained from the infamous black liquor tax credits. KapStone Paper and Packaging announced yesterday that the Joint Committee on Taxation had accepted its position that the $186 million in black liquor credits it earned in 2009 are not taxable income. As a result, it is claiming $63.6 million in “gross unrecognized tax benefits and accrued interest expense.”

Pulp manufacturers exploited a loophole in a renewable-fuel tax credit program to gain at least $8 billion in direct payments from the federal government