Montecresto
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2013
- Messages
- 24,561
- Reaction score
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- Gender
- Undisclosed
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- Undisclosed
I.
So you are telling us that the "income tax free loader" and tax payer want to punish gas and oil companies BECAUSE of they are unwilling to be be held responsible as the purchasers and consumers of gas and oil...the ones that do the polluting?
Frankly I would not have thought anyone would have the chutzpah quote the polling of the mob's prejudices as evidence being "on to something", other than as an example mass man's inability to see beyond the hobe-goblinization of those that provide them the means to live in the age of electricity - how terrible :roll:.
As I said "the (environmental) impacts you speak of is not from the fossil fuel industry - it is almost entirely due to those taxpayers (and the 47 percent of non-taxpayers) who use fossil fuel in their business, job, or home. It's rather disingenuous for a consumer to blame an industry for their (own) choice to consume (its' products).".
II.
Your cite of the CSM is a good illustration: without an honest definition of the meaning of a real "subsidy" and an understanding of who actually get's a subsidy then any broad claims by the fossil fuel haters is bogus and disingenuous posturing. The article tosses around words like "tax breaks" and makes broad and unsupported claims of 41 billion (or more) in subsidies - the author never bothering to detail or explain how he arrives at this number.
Most likely the author (like Obama) is speaking of broadly available tax provisions are not fossil fuel subsidies. For example, there is the Section 199 deduction, which goes to all domestic manufacturing. A producer of clothing, roads, electricity, water, and many other goods produced in the United States are all eligible for the manufacturer’s tax deduction - including music and movie production. Whether or not domestic producers should get this credit is a matter of opinion, but Oil and Gas are no more "subsidized" by this deduction than other US producers.
In fact, Oil/Gas is already targeted for special punitive tax treatment. Congress has already imposed frozen the deduction at 6 percent when other manufacturers receive a 9 percent deduction. In other words, they are targeted for tax increases compared to other domestic producers.
Another example is in foreign tax credits and the deferral of foreign income. The FTC and deferral are two a part of a system that prevents the U.S. corporate income tax from double taxing—and further harming—the international competitiveness of U.S. companies. Foreign tax credits and deferral of foreign income is not unique to the oil industry, but it is often lambasted as a "subsidy" for "big oil" as if it were unique to the oil industry.
Finally, there is the depletion allowance - which is a depreciation for an asset such as the amount of unknown recoverable oil from a well. Independent oil and gas producers use a depletion allowance to recover capital investments, which is also used in mining, timber, geothermal steam, and other natural deposits. Whether or not the credit rate is appropriate, is a matter of professional dispute. But it is not a special "subsidy" to the gas/oil industry.
The fossil fuel haters keep the print and internet press rolling with lots of lurid claims, throwing everything into a stew of "subsidy". Whether or not some (or any) of it is an actual subsidy that is given to the oil/gas industry is an entirely different matter.
To the bolded, Such hyperbole doesn't lend itself to meaningful debate. We all use fossil fuel on some level in our lives, as that's what's been made available. Because there are those of us that are practicing the stewardship of using renewables, and advocating strident R&D to develop/discover additional forms of clean renewables, does not mean we are haters. Let me ask you, if you could flip a switch, and the world was run, as it is today, although on clean renewables, are you telling me that you'd fight flipping the switch? So unfortunately, it's not that easy. Nevertheless, it's prudent to be working toward that end.