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Creates a 30% nonrefundable business tax credit for eligible purchases of battery‑detection devices used by businesses that recycle batteries, and establishes a dedicated Lithium Battery Buy-Back Trust Fund to pay for a new federal National Battery Recycling Program run jointly by the Department of Energy and EPA. The program will fund competitive grants to approved recyclers to build collection systems, allow recyclers to offer incentives for turned‑in batteries, require a federal procurement preference for approved recyclers, and requires a joint final rule within five years to set up the recycling program. Most tax and program provisions apply to transactions, sales, and tax years beginning after December 31, 2025; trust fund monies come from taxes collected under an existing excise tax provision and are available to the DOE without further appropriation for the recycling program.
The bill funds a national battery-recycling program and gives targeted tax incentives that should improve safety and build recycling capacity, but it raises consumer costs through an excise-based trust, narrows budget flexibility, and leaves implementation, timing, and tax-credit design choices that could limit benefits—especially for small recyclers—unless carefully executed.
Small recyclers and recycling businesses can claim a 30% tax credit for purchasing battery-detection equipment and use existing general business-credit mechanisms, lowering net equipment costs and simplifying uptake.
Households, businesses, and communities face lower fire and safety risks because the bill finances detection equipment, collection systems, and a national recycling program that improve safe disposal and reduce battery-related hazards.
Directing excise-tax revenues into a dedicated Trust Fund creates a stable, predictable funding stream for long-term battery-recycling projects without requiring annual appropriations.
Consumers and taxpayers will likely pay higher prices for goods subject to the §4191 excise tax because the tax is earmarked to the Trust Fund and will be passed through in product prices.
Earmarking §4191 receipts into a dedicated Trust Fund reduces congressional budgetary flexibility and could constrain program scale or slow rollout if excise revenues are insufficient to meet program needs.
The tax credit’s design (nonrefundable status, disallowance of other credits/deductions for the same expenses, required basis reduction, and limiting to equipment whose original use begins with the taxpayer) may deny or reduce benefits for cash‑constrained or smaller recyclers and exclude used-equipment markets.
Introduced October 3, 2025 by Donald Norcross · Last progress October 3, 2025