Check out Andy Krolls thorough story up today at Mother Jones on how Big Oil holds onto its billions in government giveaways: Over the past century, the federal government has pumped more than $470 billion into the oil and gas industry in the form of generous, never-expiring tax breaks. Once intended to jump-start struggling domestic drillers, these incentives have become a tidy bonus for some of the worlds most profitable companies. Taxpayers currently subsidize the oil industry by as much as $4.8 billion a year, with about half of that going to the big five oil companies—ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, BP, and ConocoPhillips—which get an average tax break of $3.34 on every barrel of domestic crude they produce. With Washington looking under the couch cushions for sources of new revenue, oil prices topping $100 a barrel, and the world feeling the heat from its dependence on fossil fuels, theres been a renewed push to close these decades-old loopholes. But history suggests that Big Oil wont let go of its perks without a brawl. Check out the whole thing: -Erika
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:00:00 +0000
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