Dive Summary:
- Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., argues that tax subsidies for the oil industry only increase their profits without reducing retail prices for consumers, thereby burdening taxpayers with $40 billion over the next 10 years that will go straight into the pockets of the big oil companies.
- Scott Sklar, President of the Stella Group and Professor at George Washington University, states the fossil industry receives $25 billion in tax incentives every year, in effect eliminating free market competition and preventing alternative sources of energy from having a fair chance.
- Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, asserts the oil industry's $1 trillion in profits over the last ten years and their lawsuit to prevent the enactment of a Dodd-Frank rule requiring oil companies to divulge significant payments to foreign governments exposes the industry as self-interested; he believes their tax incentives and subsidies should be reinvested in solar panels for individuals and small businesses.
From the article:
"Should Congress repeal tax breaks that the oil and natural-gas industry has had for the better part of the last century?
In recent weeks, two of Washington's most prominent Republicans--GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.--have explicitly said that at least some oil and gas tax breaks would likely be eliminated as part of overall corporate tax reform that Congress hopes to tackle next year. Most congressional Democrats and President Obama, meanwhile, have called to eliminate most oil and gas tax breaks for at least the last four years. ..."