At first blush, this New York Times article seems to point to an encouraging development regarding [tag]tax breaks[/tag] for [tag]oil companies[/tag]. It’s not, however, quite as heartening as it may seem.
As anxiety spread in Congress on Wednesday over soaring oil prices, lawmakers in both parties said they were ready to take a tough look at oil and gas incentives they passed as recently as eight months ago. […]
Leading Republicans echoed President Bush’s call Tuesday to trim about $2 billion in tax breaks Congress passed as part of the energy bill last August. […]
“Nobody has any sympathy for oil companies on Capitol Hill right now,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia and vice chairman of the House Republican Conference. “You talk to someone driving to work in an F-150 pickup and paying $75 to fill up his tank, and everybody’s on his side.”
Sounds great, right? [tag]Bush[/tag] and [tag]congress[/tag]ional [tag]Republicans[/tag] are finally willing to curtail billions of tax cuts for the oil industry! What a remarkable victory for common sense!
The tax change Bush spoke [of on Tuesday] is less dramatic than it may seem, oil industry tax analysts said. The Senate had hoped to repeal the quick write-off of exploration costs, but Bush merely wants to stretch it out from two years to five years, as proposed in his February budget plan, according to Mark Kibbe, senior tax policy analyst with the American Petroleum Institute. “We would not necessarily be opposed to that at all,” Kibbe said.
And when the American Petroleum Institute and Republicans in DC get together on an oil policy, you have to assume it’s not exactly a progressive breakthrough.
Congressional [tag]Democrats[/tag], meanwhile, have pushed for repealing oil and gas tax breaks worth more than $10 billion over the next five years, which in turn could offer consumers a temporary gas-tax holiday. Republicans aren’t going for the idea.
When the NYT suggests Republicans are “ready to take a tough look at oil and gas incentives,” it’s leaving out a few relevant details.