President Bush Signs Corporate Tax Bill

Awaiting Election Results

Atlanta RFG

Gasoline Theft

Personnel Change

NPN/SIGMA in Colorado!!

SIGMA in New Orleans!!

PRESIDENT BUSH SIGNS CORPORATE TAX BILL

Congress completed formalities and sent the final version of the corporate tax bill to the President last Thursday, and he signed it on Friday (October 22) – ending speculation that he might wait until the last possible date, election day, to do so.

The central impetus for the bill was repeal of tax provisions which had been held by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be export subsidies prohibited by international trade agreements. The European Union, which had brought the case before the WTO, has until Oct. 31 to decide whether the newly-passed law complies with WTO rules (in which case they will lift sanctions against some US exports) or whether to pursue further US concessions.

International trade, however, is not the reason for SIGMA’s interest in the bill. It became a “Christmas tree” to which was attached a large number of other corporate-tax-related provisions – including some directly affecting our industry. Note that there are a variety of different effective dates for various provisions – including some that are tied to the date the bill was signed into law. Our attorneys will be providing one or more detailed memos on these provisions:

changes to diesel fuel tax provisions, including changes to excise taxes on rail and barge diesel.

changes to gasoline excise taxes, including an “ultimate vendor” provision.

changes to ethanol tax incentives, moving the cost from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund, and changes in how the incentive is administered to accomplish that objective.

a biodiesel tax incentive.

a 3-year suspension of the Special Occupational Tax (SOT) paid by retailers of beer, wine, and alcoholic beverages to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

provisions related to cleanup of brownfields.

a tightening of acceptable structuring for nonqualified deferred compensation plans (see preliminary analysis at www.sigma.org/news-n-views/DEFERRED.pdf).    

AWAITING ELECTION RESULTS

With the exception of the tax bill reported above, virtually nothing is happening in Washington – Congress is in recess, the President and his Administration are out on the campaign trail, and even the regulatory agencies are loathe to do anything that might “rock the boat” before the election. Even EPA is playing a waiting game – announcing last Wednesday that they plan to finalize a rule in December telling the states how to apply the various pollution-control requirements under the new 8-hour ozone standard.    

ATLANTA RFG

The judge handling the case of Atlanta’s appeal to avoid RFG requirements has just thrown things for another loop. After dismissing a temporary restraining order to block the RFG rule (reported earlier by us), he has now granted a stay of that action pending appeal – meaning that RFG is blocked until the appeal is settled. The new order means that the Jan. 13 date for starting RFG in the 13-county Atlanta, Georgia area is delayed indefinitely.    

GASOLINE THEFT

With oil prices surging, and product prices also up, the national media is once again showing interest in retail gasoline stories. SIGMA’s First Vice President, Bill Shipley, was quoted in last Tuesday’s USA Today on the subject of gas thefts (known by some as “drive-offs”). The story appeared on page 2B. Incidentally, this topic and some potential solutions will be touched on in a workshop at our upcoming convention in New Orleans. Hope you’re planning to attend!    

PERSONNEL CHANGE

Lori Wolking has resigned from her position as SIGMA’s meeting planner; her last day in the office was last Tuesday. Through the Annual Meeting, the position will be filled by a meeting consultant, Mindy McCallister. Mindy looks forward to meeting you in New Orleans! (Following the convention, the position will be filled by Mary Alice Kutyn, who is currently SIGMA’s Director of Sales and Development.)    

NPN/SIGMA IN COLORADO!!

There’s a nip in the air . . . the leaves are starting to fall . . . so it must be getting time to think about SKIING!!

For decades, this industry has had a Winter Management Conference in ski country, combining top-level education with networking opportunities and a chance to ski some of the country’s best slopes. For years, it was sponsored by the Petroleum Marketing Education Foundation. In recent years it has been sponsored primarily by SIGMA, with a couple of other co-sponsors some years.

Starting in 2005, NPN joins with SIGMA as principal co-sponsor of this premier event. With NPN’s wider reach within the industry, coupled with devoted SIGMA participants over the years, we think this will be a much larger event than it had become. The location is Aspen/Snowmass Village, Colorado, The dates are January 30 to February 2.

The highlight of the educational programming this year is a "CEO Roundtable." We have confirmed five corporate President's and/or CEO's from a variety of industries for this dynamic forum. Each leader will give a brief presentation on their company, their industry, and their views of the future in this can't-miss session. Participants are:

Peter Johnson, President, Oil Division, Sinclair Oil Corp.

Richard Boyd, Co-CEO & President, Boyd Coffee Company

Don Levin, President, Republic Tobacco

Robert Johnson, President, The Pinnacle Corporation

Craig McNeill, President, OPW

Other educational sessions include:

How to Minimize Shrink in the Operation, with Larry Miller, President, TRAX Retail Solutions

HR Training and Development to Enhance Business Success, with Terry McKenna, Principal and Co-Founder, Employee Performance Strategies, Inc.

Advanced Fuel Procurement Techniques and Management Programs, with Ed Touma, Senior Associate, JHP Associates

State-Of-The Petroleum Industry Market Trends and Risk Management, with Joe Petrowski, Managing Director, JHP Associates

Investing in Car Washes: Is It Right For You?, with Jimmy Morgan, President, Morgan Oil Company; Jeff Cozzo, Director of Special Projects, International Carwash Association; and Craig Campbell, Dir. of Marketing, Mark VII Equipment, Inc.

SIGMA IN NEW ORLEANS!!

And don’t forget about the SIGMA Annual Meeting and all of the ancillary meetings that are clustered around it! The Annual Meeting itself, Nov. 12-14 in New Orleans, now has 503 registrants – with an expected final total of around 560.

You should have recently received an e-mail announcing our luncheon speaker – political analyst Ron Faucheux. We believe his presentation will help everyone better understand both the why and the meaning of the Nov. 2 election results.

We have lots of other important educational sessions and top speakers . . . Bob Ebel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Chet France of EPA’s fuels programs, a couple of key legislative staffers, NPN’s Station Resuscitation program, the chief staff person from Detroit’s TOP TIER gasoline program, the head of National Tank Truck Carriers, and a host of others.

Also, check out the other events that are being held in association with our convention – before or after. We have joined with OPIS and NPN to offer a Site School on Nov. 11-12. We’ve joined with EMI to offer our higher-level Effective Fuel Buying Strategies for Motor Fuel Marketers, also Nov. 11-12. DTN is having a User Conference on the 12th. EPA and API and a dozen other organization including SIGMA are holding an Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Implementation Workshop following the convention, on Nov. 15-16. ConocoPhillips is sponsoring a tour of their Alliance Refinery on the morning of Nov. 12. All in all, it’ll be a very worthwhile whirlwind of action for those in attendance – and lots of fun too!

One final request: IF FOR ANY REASON YOU FIND YOU MUST CANCEL YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND, PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL YOUR HOTEL ROOM. Instead, let SIGMA know so we can make your room available to some other SIGMA attendee rather than giving it up to the “general public”. The entire city of New Orleans is booked up during part of our stay, so hotel rooms are at a premium!

 
SIGMA Weekly Report October 25, 2004 © Copyright SIGMA, 2005