Obama Wants to End Long-Standing Tax Breaks On Big Oil; Shift Revenue to Solyndra, Algae

Updates

January 3, 2012: CarpeDiem's look at "Big Oil" subsidies and tax breaks. 

Later, same evening: Senate votes 51-47 to defeat the Obama proposal. Needed 60 votes to pass. Ms Olympia Snowe (R) who complains about difficulty of working with Obama, voted with Obama on this one. Article refers to "depletion allowance" as subsidies. Oil money would have been used for more "Solyndras; for whooping crane killers; and, for coal-powered cars.  [Note: Ms Olympia Snowe gives the president an "F" "in paying attention to Olympia Snowe." -- see second link.]

Later: White House cannot explain why Obama has flip-flopped on the issue. In 2005, he voted for the energy bill with a lot of tax breaks for the oil and gas industry.

Original Post

Link here.

Many congressional Republicans say cutting the tax breaks would lead to higher fuel prices, raising costs on oil companies and affecting their spending on exploration. Obama couldn't end the subsidies when Democrats controlled Congress earlier in his term.

He may have better luck this time with rising gasoline prices, but most folks know that increased taxes on "Big Oil" will be passed on to the consumer. This is not rocket science.

Maybe he's got it all wrong. Make it easier for "Big Oil" to drill, and support lower corporate taxes, and we might actually see lower prices at the pump.