WBRZ - Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE - The state Department of Revenue is proposing new regulations governing Louisiana's alternative fuel vehicle tax credit to limit estimated program costs to $10 million a year.

That's far higher than initial estimates of the tax break's price tag.

But the move to eliminate "flex-fuel vehicles" - which had previously been swept into eligibility with a rule later rescinded by Gov. Bobby Jindal - will keep the tax break from costing the state up to $250 million a year, according to a financial estimate.

The department issued an emergency rule in April governing the tax credit, which enlarged the list of qualifying vehicles by sweeping in flex-fuel cars and trucks with the ability to burn ethanol.

Jindal scrapped the rule in June amid complaints it could be a budget-buster.