This is from “GreenWonk” and is well worth reading.
Big Oil’s Laughable Tax Break Spin
Democrats are looking to pass a $16 billion package of renewable energy tax credits, and they intend to pay for it by getting rid of tax breaks for the oil and gas industry.
They want to pass this legislation quickly, for good reason:
Renewable energy industry officials say the window is closing quickly and stress that those expiring credits need to get extended early this year to give certainty to investors.
But a likely Senate Republican filibuster and presidential veto stand in the way.
And not surprisingly, Big Oil is prepared to lobby against these tax changes.
Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, said, “We will lobby vociferously against any of these types of proposals.” And it looks like they’ll be using this sort of spin:
The oil industry argues that a tax increase for their companies hurts consumers and investors as lawmakers try to stave off a recession.
Let’s do some simple math.
Congress wants to take away somewhere in the range of $15 billion worth of tax breaks for the oil and gas industry as a whole.
But the Big Five oil companies– BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell—pulled in an estimated $120 billion in profits just last year. (ExxonMobil alone made $41 billion, becoming the most profitable company in American history for the second year in a row.)
In effect, they’re arguing that by reinvesting a small portion of these mammoth profits into alternative energy, Congress would hurt the economy.
How they can make this argument as families struggle to pay for the gas and heating oil these companies supply is beyond laughable.
Tags: big oil, renewable energy, taxes
Posted by druid43 
