ATR sent the following press release announcing our new Energy Tax Hike Series
Anti-Tax Organization Takes Aim at Energy Provisions in Obama Budget
ATR releases “Energy Tax Hike Series” analyzing the 2010 budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) released a series of one-page documents analyzing the massive portion of the President’s budget specifically dedicated to taxing energy producers and increasing the cost for all consumers.
Contained in the massive four trillion dollar budget are hundreds of billions of dollars in negative energy provisions that hurt the economy, cost American jobs, and will ultimately lead to a rise in the cost of energy. Some issue areas explored include:
Cap and Trade: This $646 billion tax over 10 years will crush American competitiveness by penalizing all companies that emit carbon as a byproduct of manufacturing. Every family in America will pay this, on average, $100 billion tax every year in higher energy prices.
Gulf of Mexico Taxation: Obama uses the budget to tax 25 percent of total U.S. production of oil and 15 percent of total U.S. production of natural gas from the Gulf. Prepare to pay more at the pump as the market absorbs this massive tax increase that will cost jobs in Gulf States.
LIFO: Taxing LIFO reserves is a clear attempt to slap an unfair tax on energy manufacturers merely to exact a political price. The economic price will be borne by the American people, who will end up paying this “inventory tax” in the form of higher energy prices.
Passive Loss: The Obama budget repeals the passive loss exception for working interests in oil and gas properties starting in 2011. This has a ten-year cost of $49 billion, and when fully phased in will increase taxes annually by $6 billion.
Section 199 Repeal: This is a manufacturing deduction every company gets for domestic activity. Repealing Sec. 199 only for energy companies directly forces American jobs overseas.
“Obama is using this budget as his personal vehicle to stop Americans from using oil and gas,” said Grover Norquist, ATR President. “When I need to travel, I use a train, car or plane. The last time I checked, they are powered by oil and gas. If Obama knows something we don’t, or has found some magic form of energy, he should gladly share that news with us. Everything else is still called ‘alternative energy’ for a reason – it doesn’t work yet. If it did, it would just be called ‘energy’. So until then, why is he raising taxes on the energy we all use?”
The full “Energy Tax Hike Series” analyzing the President’s budget is available at www.atr.org.