Congress plans double-tax for U.S. oil; taxpayer bailout for BP, foreign oil

.Congress plans double-tax for U.S. oil; taxpayer bailout for BP, foreign oil
September 5th, 2010 11:49 am ET.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, wants to double taxes on U.S. oil companies, threatening jobs.
Photo: (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In a move designed to stop the stealth plan of Congress to double-tax U.S. oil companies and subsidize foreign oil interests, the National Taxpayers Union has launched a campaign to blow the whistle on the under-the-radar scheme.

Liberals in Congress want to remove tax breaks for American oil companies that offset tax dollars going to foreign companies. The repeal of these breaks would amount to a double-tax on American oil, sending gasoline and heating oil prices through the roof.

But that's not the worst of it.

The scheme would subsidize state-owned oil interests, such a Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and foreign oil companies such as BP.

On July 20, 2010, Forbes did a full report on the disastrous proposal. The problem is that the proposal never went away, and Congress is still poised to pass the legislation at any moment.

What would this mean, for you, the average citizen, who has already shown a disgust toward Obama-directed bailouts, efforts to give taxpayer funds to BP in light of the massive Gulf oil spill cleanup, and the Leftwing-inspired 'cap and trade' legislation, that would increase the average household energy tab for Americans by $2400 - $5000 dollars per year?

1. The proposed energy tax increases would give a competitive advantage to foreign-owned oil interests, such as BP and Hugo Chavez' socialized energy apparatus in Venezuela. This amounts to a back-door bailout of BP and a stealth subsidy of foreign state-owned oil interests--all at taxpayer expense.

2. The proposal would further cripple the U.S. oil industry which has already been hit hard by the oil drilling moratorium Obama and the Democrats slapped on the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill, at a time when the Gulf area is already reeling from the loss of jobs from one of its largest employers--the U.S. oil industry.

3. A further loss of jobs in the energy sector would be inevitable. The new TV ad produced by the National Taxpayer's Union explains the consequences.

4. The most insidious proposal of all, however, is the repeal of part of the U.S. Code that gives manufacturers a tax credit for the creation of jobs. The new law would REMOVE THAT CREDIT FOR THE U.S. OIL INDUSTRY while keeping it for everyone else.

From the NTU report:

"Also under consideration in the U.S. Senate is a repeal of Section 199 of the U.S. tax code, a manufacturers’ deduction, for only the oil and gas industry. The deduction allows companies to reinvest revenue into creating jobs and domestic economic growth."

This amounts to punitive action, singling out the oil industry alone. The U.S. has long encouraged manufacturing and the creation of jobs by giving tax credits to those companies that do so. This proposal, however, would disallow such credits for oil while maintaining them for other corporations.

Who, exactly, is pushing this scheme to cripple America's energy sector and force taxpayers not only to subsidize foreign interests but pay through the nose in excessive added energy costs?

The usual suspects. These include Nancy Pelosi, Robert Menendez, Max Baucus, Harry Reid, among others of the Leftwing.

The far-Left advocacy group, Center for American Progress, supports the heavy taxes on energy due to the fact that it wishes to force the U.S. into a new 'green economy.' Self-avowed Marxist Van Jones, adviser to Obama who now works with the Center, stated in no uncertain terms the end-game.

The U.S. economy has already proved just this month that the Obama plan for America is an abject failure. Unemployment is up, the FDIC is bankrupt, banks are being seized and going under at a record pace, and the housing market just experienced its worst crash since the records began to be kept--a 27% plummet in just one month.

The Obama-Pelosi-Menendez-Reid-Baucus energy tax would be enough to send the economy over the cliff.

Be sure to catch my blog at The Liberty Sphere.