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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I am honored to serve as State Representative for Jamestown and Middletown. Thank you for your trust, confidence, and continued support.
There are several initiatives I will champion in 2013 including the Historic Preservation Tax Credit, the Renewable Energy Tax Credit, and I’ll be chairing the Petroleum Savings & Advisory Commission.
The Historic Preservation Tax Credit was responsible for the redevelopment of hundreds of historic buildings and former brown field sites in the state. According to Grow Smart Rhode Island, the historic tax credits created over $1.3 billion dollars worth of development, including 11,750 construction jobs, and tens of millions in new state and local tax revenue before it was eliminated in 2008.
For every dollar of state tax credit investment, there’s $5.35 in economic output. This is labor, business, and government to create jobs and economic growth.
The Renewable Energy Tax Credit would help make solar projects more affordable to home owners while putting small business to work.
The state benefits with more payroll taxes, business taxes, and sales taxes as more home owners invest in solar projects to make their homes more energy efficient.
The credit was eliminated in 2010, but in the five previous years when it was intact, it cost the state of Rhode Island only an average of only $150,000 a year. It created over one million dollars in economic output with an average of 55 installations a year. That’s a good return on investment!
As chair of the Petroleum Savings & Advisory Commission, we’ll report on petroleum dependency in terms of health, economic and environmental costs; the commission will look at ways to reduce fuel use in transportation, consumer incentives for electric/hybrid cars, and the implementation of ‘clean fuels’ standards for transportation fuels that produce lower carbon emissions.
I also welcome your suggestions and ideas. Please email me at rep-ruggiero@rilin.state.ri.us
Stay well,
Deborah Ruggiero
State Representative
Jamestown/Middletown
rep-ruggiero@rilin.state.ri.us
401-423-0444
Please call me at 423-0444 or email me at rep-ruggiero@rilin.state.ri.us.
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all.”
– Emily Dickinson
For more information and further reading on other initiatives please visit my news page or review all of my current press releases posted on my official page on the General Assembly Website.