There is a song, “The Times They Are A Changin’,” in which Bob Dylan sings about the old and stodgy needing to get out of the way, if they’re not prepared to lend a hand and move forward with the new and innovative.
It’s a powerful metaphor for a lot that happens in life or the economy. The old must adjust and keep up or find itself confined to the dustbin of history.
Seems true — unless, of course, you discover that the old is getting a huge handout to help it maintain its position and keep the new marginalized.
The situation we now find ourselves in — with the oil and gas industry and the huge taxpayer handouts it gets to stay on top — needs to be addressed. The numbers are startling.
According to the nonpartisan Checks and Balances Project, an investigative organization that focuses on policy decisions that affect taxpayers and consumers, the oil and gas industry is slated to receive more than $47.1 billion in tax breaks over the next five years (http://bit.ly/yaJUbn).
The problem is that the oil and gas industry gets these major tax breaks even though it is hugely profitable. According to the 2011 “Subsidy Gusher” report by the nonpartisan watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, the top five oil companies alone reported more than $850 billion in total profits over the last 10 years.
What does this mean?
Simple. Oil and gas companies are extremely profitable because they gouge us at the gas pump to the tune of more than $3-a-gallon gas while also cashing a huge check from taxpayers on tax day.
You see, when the oil and gas industry gets tax breaks, money they spend on exploration and other business expenses gets deducted from their taxes, and every American foots the bill. Billions of dollars of these tax breaks were designed specifically for, and only available to, their industry. Tax breaks for business are normally reserved for young or struggling industries that need a leg up as they do their research and development and become profitable over time. Subsidies are supposed to go away once the industry can stand on its own two feet.
The last time I checked, $850 billion in pure profits over the past decade sounds like an industry that is standing in its own two feet and doesn’t need anymore taxpayer handouts.
But the oil and gas industry has friends in high places; many in Congress have consistently voted to maintain these outrageous tax breaks. From New Mexico, Republican Rep. Steve Pearce has voted eight times since early 2011 to preserve tax breaks for Big Oil.
Luckily, our very own Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Luján has been a vocal critic of these tax giveaways to powerful oil companies. Too bad he seems to be fighting an uphill battle against an old industry that has its claws wrapped around the levers of power. And in New Mexico, that power and influence extends over our very own governor, who is trying to repeal the pit rule (New Mexico’s small victory requiring fracking waste pits to be lined with plastic to prevent pollution of our groundwater).
The times may be a changin’ for everything else, but for Big Oil and Gas, it’s business as usual. That’s why it is so important for citizens to get educated about tax giveaways to Big Oil and ask the 2012 congressional candidates where they stand on giving away our hard-earned tax dollars to industries that are already making huge profits.
- Robin Laughlin
www.santafenewmexican.com/Opinion/myview/071512vueBigOil
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