Sunday, March 24, 2013

We can't afford oil subsidies

We can't afford the cost of ignorance that results from NOT hiring enough good teachers and paying them well.  Right wing priorities - corrupt rather than penny wise, and utterly pound foolish.

1 comment:

  1. FYI ... Your Senators, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, spoke out and convinced 77 other Senators that the Medical Device Excise Tax should be eliminated as part of the 2014 Budget. They did not state how they would replenish the lost dollars, but two Representatives have offered the Medical Device Tax Elimination Act which does have an offset ... it repeals three costly tax incentives that subsidize the big major integrated oil companies (Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP) to produce oil – something they would be doing anyway.

    These tax incentives are:

    1. Section 199 deduction for domestic production activities, meant to subsidize the manufacturing sector, but which has been subsidizing highly profitable oil production. This is projected to save $9 billion from 2014 - 2023.

    2. “Last-In, First Out” (LIFO) method of inventory accounting that lets oil companies deduct the cost of oil most recently added to inventories (which costs the most when oil prices are high) from their taxable income. This is projected to save $14 billion from 2014 - 2023.

    3. “Dual capacity taxpayer” rules that create a subsidy for foreign oil production by allowing oil companies to claim foreign tax credits against royalties paid to foreign governments for the right to extract oil (a cost of doing business for which a tax deduction rather than a tax credit is more appropriate). This is projected to save $6 billion from 2014 - 2023.

    So, there are a lot of good programs that those oil subsidies could be used for ... teachers and/ or healthcare ... regardless if the monies go for teachers or healthcare, the subsidies must end.

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