WIA Urges Hill Democrats Against Pursuing New 15% Tax on Spectrum Licenses

The Wireless Infrastructure Association urged House and Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday to not include language in a potential alternative version of the scuttled Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (see 2112170036) that would institute a 15% book alternative minimum tax on spectrum licenses. “Under the current tax code, companies that acquire spectrum licenses” via FCC “auctions are permitted to amortize these auction costs over a 15-year period, freeing up additional capital for investment in next-generation wireless infrastructure,” WIA President Jonathan Adelstein said in letters to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts. “The book alternative minimum tax provision in last year’s Build Back Better bill would have changed this tax treatment -- spectrum licenses would be considered indefinite-lived assets under tax law, and the purchase of these licenses would receive no deduction for book income purposes.” At “a time when Congress is prioritizing the expansion of broadband infrastructure across the country, changing the current tax treatment would represent a retreat in the march towards reaching the nation’s connectivity goals,” Adelstein said.