Obama Proposes $100 Billion in Tax Hikes on Energy Producers and Families

ATR ^ | 2011-09-19 | Christopher Prandoni

[92nina]

More taxes, less jobs
Oil and natural gas companies are responsible for about 9.2 million jobs in this country and about 7.5 percent of its GDP. Raising taxes on this industry would force companies to delay or scrap future projects as it becomes significantly harder for them to recover their investment costs. Repealing the below deductions and credits could kill 170,000 jobs and ultimately reduce government revenue, according to a Wood-Mackenzie study.

Encumbered by taxes
Already paying a little over $85 million a day, the oil and natural gas industry’s earnings are taxed at an effective rate of 41 percent. Compare this to the average income tax rate of 26 percent for non-oil and natural gas companies in the S&P 500 and it is clear that oil companies are paying their “fair share.”

Repealing the following twelve tax policies employed by energy producer would raise these businesses taxes by $95 billion. Eliminating the first eight tax policies increases oil and natural gas companies’ taxes by $41 billion.

1. Intangible Drilling Costs. Current law allows energy companies to deduct most (only 70% of these costs for the larger companies) of the costs associated with drilling. All expenses should be deductible in the year they are incurred. Stimulus 2.0 would repeal this and make companies deduct the costs very slowly over fifteen years.

2. Tertiary Injectants. Current law allows energy companies to deduct the cost of injecting materials into older energy reservoirs in order to keep them productive. This is the proper tax treatment of this cost. Stimulus 2.0 would replace this very ordinary deduction with precisely nothing. Energy companies would simply have to eat the cost with after-tax dollars.

3. Percentage Depletion. This refers to a provision of law that allows taxpayers to recover their lease investment...

Read more: http://www.atr.org/obama-proposes-billion-tax-hikes-energy-a6460#ixzz1Yc4ELBLX

[92nina]

Piling on to the Stimulus 2.0’s tax increases, today President Obama proposed even more tax hikes on the oil and natural gas industry.

Take this article and others I found to the fight to the Libs on their own turf; put the Left on the defensive at Digg and at Reddit and in Stumbleupon and Delicious

[lowbridge]

bump

[Todd Kinsey]

They are killing the energy sector down on the Gulf of Mexico. Only one offshore rig has opened back up and the refineries, chemical, and polymer plants aren’t moving forward with expansion projects. Many of the polymer plants in the Houston area have been mothballed and are sitting idle. I believe its because he’s trying to punish Texas, Louisiana, and to a lesser extent, Mississippi where the bulk of these plants are located. All he’s doing is pissing people off and motivating them to vote. The county I live in had never had a Republican County Judge (mayor of the county). That changed in 2010 and the GOP took 14 seats and look to capitalize on that in 2012.

[GonzoGOP]

DJIA took a nose dive at 2:24 Eastern. Was this what did the job. It had been more or less flat all day and now it is in full crater mode.

[Signalman]

I think you’re correct. In fact, it seems that just about every time Obozo gives a speech or comes out with a significant policy decision, the markets tank.

[unixfox]

Just keep talkin mr pResident. You anti-American P.O.S.

[Venturer]

Anyone else see the price of fuel going up?

The oil companies are going to pass these costs on, it is the middle class American that will get this shoved up his butt.

[MHGinTN]

Yeah, the ‘and’ between energy producers and families is a media whoredom construct. Families will shoulder the entire increase and the lying democrats and their media whores know it, so they lie in print.