Want To Lower the National Debt? Tax Big Oil.
GOP attacks on clean energy are out of touch with the public’s desire to hold Big Oil accountable and make polluters pay
Washington, D.C. – Big Oil corporations will announce another quarter of windfall profits this week and next, with Hess and Halliburton’s numbers already in and Chevron and Exxon expected to release theirs on Friday.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Congressional Republicans are proposing massive cuts to widely popular clean energy programs in order to do their duty to raise the debt ceiling, while completely ignoring fossil fuel subsidies and the massive profits being raked in by their Big Oil donors.
Jamie Henn, a spokesperson for Stop The Oil Profiteering (STOP), which has been advocating for a windfall profits tax on Big Oil, issued the following statement:
“Big Oil is still raking in obscene profits at the expense of the American people, and per usual, they’re using their earnings to boost CEO pay and stock buybacks, rather than investing in climate solutions or lowering prices at the pump. If Congress really wanted to lower the national debt, or better yet, help everyday Americans who are still struggling with high energy prices, they’d pass a Big Oil windfall profits tax. Instead, MAGA Republicans continue to attack the only solution to lowering prices for the long haul: a fast and just transition to clean and affordable renewable energy.
“If gas prices go back up again this summer, I think you’re going to see more states follow California’s lead and pass a price gouging penalty or some other form of accountability mechanism. The White House and Congressional climate hawks would be smart to champion the same sort of approach. Big Oil may have thought it got away with robbing us at the pump last year, but the public is still pissed and these calls to make polluters pay will only get louder.”
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman Ro Khanna have already introduced legislation this Congress that would tax windfall profits, and provide much needed relief to consumers. The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act would generate billions of dollars in revenue by taxing the excess earnings of oil and gas corporations who have greedily profited from the instability caused by the war in Ukraine.
With Big Oil having already raked in over $300 billion in profits over the last year, a windfall tax could deliver roughly $1,300 to qualifying families and individuals. This would be a significant help in defraying the costs of gas and the skyrocketing home electricity and heating bills many are facing, and put money back into the pockets of working people.
Furthermore, if lawmakers are looking to make cuts they should address the fossil fuel subsidies that are embedded in the U.S. tax code, including tax deductions, tax exemptions, and tax credits for fossil fuel technologies, exploration, and production. Through these subsidies, the federal government adds anywhere from $20 billion to $650 billion a year to the bottom line of the fossil fuel industry. In 2015 and 2016, the federal government lost an annual average of $20.5 billion in U.S. tax dollars to maintain this smorgasbord for a massively-wealthy industry that should not receive it.
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