Fiscal Cliff Winner: Tax Breaks for Oil and Gas Industries

Monday, January 07, 2013

The fiscal cliff deal reached in Washington proved to be a winner for the oil and gas industry on two counts.

 

First and foremost, the industry didn’t lose a dime of its billion-dollar subsidies. There was talk earlier in the year of maybe eliminating some of the lucrative tax breaks as a way to help reduce the budget deficit. Taxpayers for Common Sense estimates that oil companies will receive $78 billion in tax breaks and subsidies between 2012 and 2017. In March 2012 a majority of senators did vote in favor of the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act, which would have eliminated $2.4 billion in deductions gained by the five biggest oil companies, but the bill needed 60 votes to pass.

 

By the end of the fiscal cliff negotiations, Republicans and Democrats left all of the subsidies in place.

 

“Trimming just a handful of these breaks for the big five companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell—would've raised $24 billion over the next decade” for the U.S. Treasury, noted Andy Kroll at Mother Jones.

 

But the good news didn’t stop there for ExxonMobil and others. Once Congress and President Barack Obama agreed on a plan, oil prices on the stock market rose to their highest levels in nearly three months, making those in the petroleum business even richer.

 

In 2011, ExxonMobil made more than $73 billion, but paid only $1.5 billion in federal income taxes.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

To Learn More:

Big Oil's Billions in Tax Perks Survive Fiscal Cliff Deal (by Andy Kroll|, Mother Jones)

Oil Rises On US Fiscal Deal, Hits Highest Since Oct (by Robert Gibbons and Matthew Robinson, Reuters)

Petroleum Industry Claims Cutting Its Tax Breaks is “Discriminatory” (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Comments

Bryan C 12 years ago
Edited Revised: You Failed to mention the $ 1 Bln USD write-off / direct overhead tax credit that each of the 7 sisters gets per BEEE / DOI Permitted oil well that are covertly covered under the Obama Safety Law from 2010 requiring " The ToolBox" be implemented on each future oil well and must be implemented as part of issuance of a BEEE/ DOI / DOE permit. Previous to Obama setting into play this law, the 7 sisters united into a partnership called the BGgroup contracting with Cameron / Helix group as vendor supplier of " The ToolBox" under the safety guidelines. Unknown to many, the cost of the safety device named " The ToolBox" was set at $1Bln USD for each device. Thus, effectively implementing a clear direct USD profits write-off false overhead of $ 1bln dollars to each permit whether becoming a productive well or not, before any future taxation USD to production can be made due to direct Cost of operations, Cost of overhead write-off form profits as a means of preventing reality of BiG 7 seven profit disclosures. POTUS, was very aware of this inclusion, a deal cut under the table and away from the knowledge of the American Public, so they thought... I / we my counsel team has this proof and soon to take public in Federal Suit.
Bryan C 12 years ago
You Failed to mention the $ 1 Bln USD writeoff / direct overhead tax credit that each of the 7 sisters gets per BEEE / DOI Permitted oil well that are covertly covered under the Obama Safety Law from 2010 requiring " The ToolBox" be implemented on each future oil well and must be implemented as part of issuance of a BEEE/ DOI / DOE permit. Previous to Obama setting into play this law, the 7 sisters united into a partnership called the BGgroup contracting with Cameron / Helix group as vendor supplier of " The ToolBox" under the safety guidlines. Unknown to many, the cost of the safety device named " The ToolBox" was set at $1Bln USD for each device. Thus, effectively implementing a clear direct USD profits writeoff false overhead of $ 1bln dollars to each permit whether becomign a productive well or not, before any future taxation USD to production can be made due to direct Cost of operations, Cost of overhead write-off form profits as a means of preventing reality fo BiG 7 seven profit disclosures. POTUS, was very aware of this inclusion, a deal cut under the table and away from the knowledge of the American Public, so they thought... I / we my counsel team has this proof and soon to take public in Federal Suit.

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