Oil subsidies

Are oil companies really enjoying generous subsidies from the government? If so, how much and what should be changed if anything?

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/about_those_oil_subsidies.html

Originally posted by Metal Brain
Are oil companies really enjoying generous subsidies from the government? If so, how much and what should be changed if anything?

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/about_those_oil_subsidies.html

It is interesting how the author of your link doesn't understand a subsidy. Allowing a company to pay less tax than due is a subsidy. It is like the government collecting the tax due from the company, and the government then giving the company money. Further, no matter the distortions by the author, the oil subsidies targeted for being ended are $20 billion over the next 10 years.

Originally posted by moon1969
It is interesting how the author of your link doesn't understand a subsidy. Allowing a company to pay less tax than due is a subsidy. It is like the government collecting the tax due from the company, and the government then giving the company money. Further, no matter the distortions by the author, the oil subsidies targeted for being ended are $20 billion over the next 10 years.

The author explains that not just oil companies get many of those tax breaks. I have my doubts about some of them myself. That is why I created this thread, to find out.

The depletion allowance is something I looked into because I receive oil and gas royalties every month. I don't think it applies to me since I am not operating a business, but it does apply to the cutting of timber from what I read on the IRS forms. That means it is not exclusively for oil companies.

I'm not sure about the others since I am not an accountant, but if you want to say tax breaks are subsidies then plenty of businesses are getting subsidies. Even individual investors are getting subsidies. Romney comes to mind. Warren Buffet too. Maybe anybody in the top 1% are getting subsidies by your definition.

Perhaps you can sort all of this out for us.