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Biden plan to end U.S. fossil fuel subsidies faces big challenges
Reuters ^ | December 1, 2020 | By Timothy Gardner

Posted on 12/01/2020 7:23:28 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden’s promise to end U.S. fossil fuel subsidies worth billions of dollars a year for drillers and miners could be hard to keep due to resistance from lawmakers in a narrowly divided Congress, including from within his own party.

The challenge reflects just one of the obstacles that Biden will need to overcome as he seeks to usher in sweeping measures to combat climate change and transform the nation’s economy to net-zero emissions within three decades. Biden has said axing fossil fuel subsidies will generate money to help pay for his broader $2 trillion climate plan.

While Biden can take executive action to reverse President Donald Trump’s rollbacks of rules meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reforming tax breaks that allow companies to produce oil, gas and coal more cheaply will require Congress to pass legislation.

Doing so could be hard, even though Biden spent 36 years in the Senate where he is known as a dealmaker.

“It’s dead on arrival in the Senate,” said Gilbert Metcalf, a former deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy at the Treasury Department under former President Barack Obama, referring to any standalone legislation ditching the tax breaks if Republicans maintain control of the chamber.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2020; 4dollargas; biden; election2020; energy; fuel; globalwarming; hoax; kag; maga; middleeast; oil; propaganda; socialism; trump; ukraine
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1 posted on 12/01/2020 7:23:28 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Not least of which is actually becoming president...


2 posted on 12/01/2020 7:25:35 AM PST by kiryandil (Chris Wallace: Because someone has to drive the Clown Car)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So what exactly do they mean by “subsidies”? Or is this a codeword to disguise massive increases in taxes and regulation?


3 posted on 12/01/2020 7:26:11 AM PST by LuxAerterna
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To: kiryandil

:-) I’d like to see the reaction if one were to posit cutting gangreed* deal subsidies. That’d make Krakatoa look like a piker.

*Green new deal. Or was it nude eel.......


4 posted on 12/01/2020 7:27:58 AM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

How about a policy of no subsidies for renewable energy and no subsidies for fossil fuels?


5 posted on 12/01/2020 7:30:37 AM PST by Meatspace
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It’s pretty amazing to see the big lie technique deployed so blatantly and without apology by Reuters. What industry doesn’t get to deduct its operating costs from its tax bill? If we applied this to the green energy sector, would any of them even exist? Never mind tax deductions - without government cash subsidies to these companies, could they last another day?


[One U.S. tax break, called intangible drilling costs, allows producers to deduct a majority of their costs from drilling new wells. The Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan panel of Congress, has estimated that ditching it could generate $13 billion for the public coffers over 10 years.

Another, the percentage depletion tax break which allows independent producers to recover development costs of declining oil gas and coal reserves, could generate about $12.9 billion in revenue over 10 years, according to the panel.]


6 posted on 12/01/2020 7:31:04 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: LuxAerterna

“So what exactly do they mean by “subsidies”? “

Dunno. And I’ve worked in O&G my entire adult life, aside from the Army.

Apparently, Democrats consider netting expenses of drilling an oil well against the income made from the well is a “subsidy,” despite every other business in the USA working like that.


7 posted on 12/01/2020 7:31:12 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: Meatspace

[How about a policy of no subsidies for renewable energy and no subsidies for fossil fuels?]


What they call subsidies for fossil fuels are tax deductions for operating costs.


8 posted on 12/01/2020 7:32:14 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Meatspace

[How about a policy of no subsidies for renewable energy and no subsidies for fossil fuels?]


Another way of saying this is that greenies think fossil fuel energy companies should be taxed based on their revenues, not their profits after expenses are deducted.


9 posted on 12/01/2020 7:35:23 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“... if Republicans maintain control of the chamber.”

Well, if a lot of conservatives here and in Georgia have their way, the Dems will control the Senate, so there goes our oil industry.

But to you oil workers (and others) who want to TEACH THE GOP A LESSON by letting the Democrats win. Don’t worry, your jobs will be around for a bit longer, as the first priority for the Dems (after Amnesty) will be seizing your guns - or at least making you a felon if you get caught with one, in any scenario (self defense or otherwise).

See, not so bad!!! Right?


10 posted on 12/01/2020 7:36:23 AM PST by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's, I just don't tell anyone, like most here.)
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To: LuxAerterna

All forms of energy receive government subsidies in one form or another. You can search to learn about those for oil and gas.


11 posted on 12/01/2020 7:38:31 AM PST by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: BobL

So how do you plan to keep voting gop then getting backstabbed everytime?


12 posted on 12/01/2020 7:38:46 AM PST by Mmogamer (I refudiate the lamestream media, leftists and their prevaricutions.)
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To: Mmogamer

“So how do you plan to keep voting gop then getting backstabbed everytime?”

Well, I’ll give Georgia a chance before handing over the country to Marxists. After that, I’ll play it by ear. I don’t consider the country lost just yet, very close to being lost, but not lost - not quite yet!


13 posted on 12/01/2020 7:41:59 AM PST by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's, I just don't tell anyone, like most here.)
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To: kiryandil

Beat me to it!


14 posted on 12/01/2020 7:42:14 AM PST by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
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To: kiryandil

Not if the scumbags control all 3 branches of government.

GA is the last stand.


15 posted on 12/01/2020 7:47:45 AM PST by Jonny7797
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
GEORGIA...GEORGIA...GEORGIA!!!
16 posted on 12/01/2020 7:56:10 AM PST by Don Corleone (The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth)
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To: LuxAerterna

“So what exactly do they mean by “subsidies”?”

In their minds, building roads is a subsidy for gas and oil.


17 posted on 12/01/2020 8:02:12 AM PST by beef (Use a VPN, use Tor, and get a shortwave radio. Oh, and ACAB- All Commies Are Bastards)
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To: Jonny7797

“GA is the last stand.”

That is for sure. The most important job right now is winning GA.


18 posted on 12/01/2020 8:04:12 AM PST by beef (Use a VPN, use Tor, and get a shortwave radio. Oh, and ACAB- All Commies Are Bastards)
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To: Zhang Fei

” The Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan panel of Congress, has estimated that ditching it could generate $13 billion for the public coffers over 10 years...Another, the percentage depletion tax break which allows independent producers to recover development costs of declining oil gas and coal reserves, could generate about $12.9 billion in revenue over 10 years,”

Thanks for the numbers, so maybe $3B a year. I’ll just use $5B in case there are other subsidies and apply it all to gasoline (for simplicity):

So, $5B for 140 Billion Gallons of gas - or about 3.5 cents per gallon. Own a car, drive 12000 miles, burn 600 gallons. Your ANNUAL gasoline cost is $21 cheaper due to the subsidies. Whoopie.

My point being that the subsidies are TINY...especially when you compare it to what Tesla gets and all of the other crap for ‘alternative fuels’. We’ve let the Leftists OWN this issue by letting them continue to talk about the huge oil subsidies...maybe we should fight back a bit?


19 posted on 12/01/2020 8:28:11 AM PST by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's, I just don't tell anyone, like most here.)
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To: Mmogamer

[So how do you plan to keep voting gop then getting backstabbed everytime?]


When faced with a choice between the Tsar and the Bolsheviks, I will choose the Tsar every time. Unfortunately for the Russians, they chose wrong, and paid the price, incurring 50m dead between leadership screwups and deliberate famine. I’m OK with muddling along with the GOP - it’s better than the big screwups that the Democrats are capable of. Before we opt for bullets, we should try ballots first - less chance on getting (possibly our own) blood on the carpet.


20 posted on 12/01/2020 8:33:22 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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