Corporate welfare: If oil companies hadn’t dropped prices after Congress threatened to not only withhold their tax breaks but take back a share of their ill-gotten gains, their profits could have stayed as high all year as they did in the heady, price-gouging days following Hurricane Katrina. In that case, here are their annualized gains over last year, along with the portion of the checks you and I are picking up:
Exxon Mobil — $9.92 billion (75 percent annual increase)
Royal Dutch Shell — $9.03 billion (68 percent increase)
BP — $6.5 billion (34 percent increase)
Conoco Phillips — $3.8 billion (89 percent increase)
Chevron Texaco — $3.6 billion (12 percent increase)This year Congress handed oil and gas companies $2.6 billion in tax cuts as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It also included funds for a $1.5 billion oil consortium (in Rep. Tom Delay’s Congressional District). The total payout in the energy act is over $4 billion.
In addition to the 2005 energy act, billions more in handouts are in effect, including: $5.1 billion credit for non-conventional fuels; a $2.8 billion depletion allowance; and $2.4 billion credit for “intangible drilling” costs.
In total, the U.S. government is subsidizing oil and gas to the tune of nearly $14 billion — at a time when profits are at record highs.
These breaks were meant to act as incentives for cutting edge exploration and alternative fuels. Even President Bush, who never met an oil man he didn’t like — said recently, “With oil at more than $50 a barrel, by the way, we do not need taxpayers’-funded incentives to explore for oil and gas.”
No, “we” don’t. But I can’t help but think that oil companies did us a favor by bleeding us dry. For the first time, we are hearing Congress – even some of its Republican members – calling for fossil fuel alternatives, and threatening to come up with a real energy policy (as opposed to a bundle of tax breaks and freebies for oil companies) that will encourage us to use less non-renewable resources. They are also starting to demand truthful answers from the lying liars.
I say to oil companies, keep the prices high and enjoy it while you can. The more you squeeze us, the faster you put yourselves out of business.
