Vladmir:
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Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
…I’m asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies.
Those billions of dollars we “give the oil companies”? Prior Congresses, going back nearly 100 years, purposely tweaked the tax code to encourage drilling. Their “investment” resulted in the stable, secure and affordable energy supply that enabled our nation’s industrial might. By taking those benefits away, drilling becomes less attractive to the investor. Fewer wells will be drilled, and more jobs will be lost. Energy prices will rise, making the U.S. less competitive in international markets and more dependent on foreign energy producers.
Several of the proposed tax breaks available to energy are available to other industry: energy is being singled out.
A point often missed by Democratic policy wonks: You can’t punish oil without punishing natural gas. The two are inextricably linked; what we refer to casually as “oil companies” are also America’s biggest natural gas suppliers. The tax code for drilling is the same for oil and natural gas. Since 80% of America’s domestic drilling targets natural gas, you can’t take away those tax breaks from oil without crippling gas. More on that later…
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The other side of the major screw up is that by encouraging
oil and gas exploration on federal land and in off shore tracks, the US is paid a royalty that is worth far more than the tax breaks he is complaining about. I frankly don't think he can get this nutty plan through Congress anyway. He may try to do somethings through regulation, but he can't change the tax code.
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