Bipartisan Legislation to Prevent Taxation of Broadband Grants Reintroduced in the Senate, House

Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) along with Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA-16) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19) reintroduced the Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act (BGTTA) — legislation that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to ensure that funding for broadband deployment from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will not be considered taxable income. This legislation was first introduced last Congress in both the Senate and the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. Grants awarded for the purposes of broadband deployment are currently factored into a company’s income and are subject to taxation. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation moves to exclude broadband deployment grants awarded through the IIJA, ARPA, and Tribal Broadband Connectivity Fund from an organization’s income, ensuring the entirety of federal dollars awarded to companies for the purpose of deploying broadband around the country can be used wholly for that purpose, rather than making their way back to the government through taxes. The full text of the legislation is available here.