Today, Americans for Tax Reform released the following summary of energy taxes  endorsed or threatened by President Barack Obama or which occurred under his watch during his first year:

Energy Tax Increases Obama Proposed in 2009:

  • Amortization Period Increase:
    Increases the amortization period to seven years for only energy producing companies, raising taxes by
    $1.1. billion once phased in.
  • Passive Loss Exception Repeal:
    Repeals the passive loss exception for working interests in oil and gas properties starting in 2011. This  has a ten-year cost of $49 million, and when fully phased in will increase taxes annually by $6 billion.
  • IRS Sec. 199 Repeal
    A full repeal of Sec. 199 – but only for energy companies, passing a $13.3 billion tax onto every American family.
  • Superfund Reinstatement
    Reinstates the Superfund taxes which are expected to cost approximately $17 billion over 10 years.
  • Nonproducing Oil & Gas Lease Fees
    The proposed $4/acre fee is estimated to cost the energy companies $122 million per year.
  • Gulf of Mexico Energy Taxation
    Taxes gulf energy production by $5.3 billion
  • Marginal Well Tax Credit Repeal
    Repeals the tax credit for oil and gas produced from marginal wells and will cost 140,000 barrels of oil per day or a loss of $10.5 million per day.Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
    Limits the amount of carbon emission allowed from the production and consumption of transportation fuels pushing consumers towards ethanol use.
    Costs of reaching a 90% LCFS using ethanol would range between $65.5 billion and $760 billion annually; which are $570 and $6520 per year per household.
    These LCFS would increase subsidies to corn ethanol, costing taxpayers between $1 billion and $17 billion.
  • LIFO (Last-in, first-out)
    Mandating a change in accounting practices will require companies to pay $61.05 billion in new taxes on this “LIFO reserve.”
  • Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS)
    If states cannot meet new RPS requirements, utility companies will be forced to purchase credits from other states or the federal government. GED estimates that the total national cost of these fees will be $175 billion by 2030.

Energy Tax Increases That Occurred on Jan. 1, 2010:

  • $3 million tax increase on alternative/hybrid motor vehicles (sec 30B(k)(3))
  • $736 million tax increase on biodiesel and renewable diesel (sec 40A(g), secs.6426(c)(6) and 6427         (e)(5)(B))
  • $20 million tax increase on new energy efficient home building (sec 45L(g))
  • $70 million taxes on issuing clean renewable energy bonds (CREBs) (sec 54M)
  • $6 million tax increase on advanced mine safety equipment (sec 179E)
  • $50 million new taxes on capital costs incurred by small diesel refiners(sec 179B(a))
  • $188 million taxes on “brownfields” environmental remediation (sec 198(h)
  • $84 million taxes on income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico (Sec 199(d)(7))
  • $67 million new taxes on oil and gas marginal wells (sec 613A(c)(6)(H))
  • $94 million tax increase on alternative fuel and alternative fuel mixtures (excluding liquefied hydrogen) (secs. 6426(d)(5) and 6427 (e)(6)(C)

    Economic Impact of Cap-and-Trade:

  • Gasoline prices will rise 58 percent (or $1.38)
  • Natural gas prices will rise 55 percent
  • Heating oil prices will rise 56 percent
  • Electricity prices will rise 90 percent
  • A family of four can expect its per-year energy costs to rise by $1,241
  • Including taxes, a family of four will pay an additional $4,609 per year
  • A family of four will reduce its consumption of goods and services by up to $3,000 per year, as its income and savings fall
  • Aggregate GDP losses will be $9.4 trillion
  • Aggregate cap-and-trade energy taxes will be $5.7 trillion
  • Job losses will be nearly 2.5 million
  • The national debt will rise an additional $12,803 per person ($51,212 per family of four).
  • Single-year GDP losses reach $400 billion by 2025 and will ultimately exceed $700 billion
  • Net job losses approach 1.9 million in 2012 and could approach 2.5 million by 2035. Manufacturing loses 1.4 million jobs in 2035
  • The annual cost of emissions permits to energy users will be at least $100 billion by 2012 and could exceed $390 billion by 2035
  • A typical family of four will pay, on average, an additional $829 each year for energy-based utility costs
  • Gasoline prices will rise by 58 percent ($1.38 more per gallon) and average household electric rates will increase by 90 percent