The left thinks that depletion is a subsidy. I contend that depletion is a valid business expense. Perhaps someone in the oil and gas industry can comment on the elimination of depletion as a business expense.
I have spent my whole career in oil and gas. OF COURSE depletion is a valid business expense - it is the equivalent for the reserves being produced, that depreciation is for machinery in a factory. It is the recognition of the cost of a wasting asset. Some might not like revenue-based percentage-based depletion, as opposed to cost-of-the-asset based depletion, however. But, that is the law that Congress, in its wisdom, has enacted.