Oil, spills and U.S. taxes

Two useful new reports from Citizens for Tax Justice in the U.S.

"What Oil and Gas Companies Extract — from the American Public"

In the wake of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the public and the media have turned their attention to some of the subsidies provided through the tax code to BP, the corporation that leased the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling platform.1 The truth is that oil and gas companies have for years received a bonanza of unjustified tax breaks that serve only to boost profits for their shareholders.

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Offshore Drilling and Taxes

The public and the media have turned their attention to some of the subsidies provided through the tax code to BP, the corporation that leased the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. This report describes the biggest tax subsidies enjoyed by oil and gas companies and explains that these subsidies do nothing to encourage energy independence or cleaner energy.