aristide1 wrote:There's a difference between being ignorance and lies.
Appropriately titled: Oil industry subsidies for dummies
http://media.cleantech.com/node/554
Of course who can get more accurate information when Cheney cloaks everything with that national security bs?
OK, let's go over this propoganda one by one (most of it has nothing to do with taxes):
Construction bonds at low interest rates or tax-free.
What does this have to do with the oil business as opposed to all other businesses (actually I have no idea what it has to do with any business)? How does this apply to drilling in Alaska or Offshore?
Research-and-development programs at low or no cost
What does this have to do with the oil business compared to other businesses? How does this apply to drilling in Alaska or Offshore?
Assuming the legal risks of exploration and development in a company's stead.
Please provide at least some explanation or evidence where this happens.
Below-cost loans with lenient repayment conditions
The government is providing low cost loans with lenient repayment conditions to the oil companies? Please provide evidence. [It is getting really deep in here]
Income tax breaks, especially featuring obscure provisions in tax laws designed to receive little congressional oversight when they expire
Please provide specifics.
Sales tax breaks - taxes on petroleum products are lower than average sales tax rates for other goods
There are no "breaks." Taxes on gas are imposed by federal, state, and local governments. The taxes are usually based on a fixed amount per gallon (rather then a percent) and until recently were a lot more than 8% that is the average sales tax on other goods. The federal government and the states are free to raise those gas sales taxes on consumers, but seem reluctant to do that (that includes Democrats). Is raising the gas sales tax part of the Obama platform?
Giving money to international financial institutions (the U.S. has given tens of billions of dollars to the World Bank and U.S. Export-Import Bank to encourage oil production internationally, according to Friends of the Earth)
So are you suggesting that the US not help developing nations build their econimies with whatever resources they are able to develop? Have you checked with Bono about this? What about if the spend the money on farming and buy tractors. Does that mean that the US government is giving John Deere at tax break?
BTW, the more oil that is developed, the greater the supply, and the lower prices will be.
The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve
So are you suggesting that we don't have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Obama has recently said we should start using it to increase supply (I guess he is a "supply side" guy), so I don't think he is opposed to it.
Construction and protection of the nation's highway system
That is funded by the federal tax on gas. More tax is collected than is spent on the highways.
Allowing the industry to pollute - what would oil cost if the industry had to pay to protect its shipments, and clean up its spills? If the environmental impact of burning petroleum were considered a cost? Or if it were held responsible for the particulate matter in people's lungs, in liability similar to that being asserted in the tobacco industry?
I am all for environmental protection (I would vote to banish overclockers from this forum), but any increase in costs related to reducing pollution have been and will be passed on to consumers, not to the oil companies.
Relaxing the amount of royalties to be paid
This has nothing to do with taxes. Lease rates and royalty terms are negotiable and usually awarded to the highest bidder. If you think it so profitable to be an oil company, why don’t you and your comrades start an oil company of your own (and you return the excess money to the public). And don’t tell me you “can’tâ€