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Understanding Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies

Understanding Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies

Full Title: Understanding Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies
Author(s): Taxpayers for Common Sense
Publisher(s): Taxpayers for Common Sense
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

A century ago, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution established Congress’s ability to impose individual and corporate income taxes. Just a few years later the oil and gas industry got their first tax breaks, and the subsidies for this industry have been with us ever since. In fact, over the years as changes were made to the code, new breaks or “tax expenditures” were added.

Today, the oil and gas industry is one of the largest and most pro table industries in the world. With the country facing more than $17 trillion in debt and half a trillion dollars in annual deficits, it is past time to eliminate subsidies for highly pro table industries such as oil and gas. They don’t need them and the country can’t afford them. Furthermore, over time, subsidies have been layered over more subsidies and in the energy sector they are often working at cross-purposes. Subsidies to encourage renewable energy development are undercut by subsidies for fossil energy. A better way forward would be to adopt a “clean slate” approach that wipes out all the subsidies.

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