NY Times: The Zombies of the U.S. Tax Code: Why Fossil Fuels Subsidies Seem Impossible to Kill

[Caribbeans]

An oil field at Signal Hill near Long Beach, Calif., in 1927. Sueddeutsche Zeitung via Alamy

The Zombies of the U.S. Tax Code: Why Fossil Fuels Subsidies Seem Impossible to Kill

By Lisa Friedman | NY Times | March 15, 2024

As a candidate in 2020, Joseph R. Biden Jr. campaigned to end billions of dollars in annual tax breaks to oil and gas companies within his first year in office.

It’s a pledge he has been unable to keep as president.

Mr. Biden’s budget request to Congress this week was his fourth attempt to eliminate what he called “wasteful subsidies” to an industry that is enjoying record profits.

“Unlike previous administrations, I don’t think the federal government should give handouts to big oil,” Mr. Biden said after his inauguration. His new budget proposal calls for the elimination of $35 billion in tax breaks that would otherwise be provided to the industry over the next decade.

Mr. Biden’s wish is opposed by the oil industry, Republicans in Congress and a handful of Democrats. In Washington, it seems, oil and gas subsidies are the zombies of the tax code: impossible to kill.

“Everybody agrees fossil fuel subsidies are wasteful, stupid and moving things in the wrong direction,” said Michael L. Ross, a political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who studies fossil fuel tax breaks. “Getting rid of them seems to be one of the hardest things to achieve on the climate agenda.” more
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/climate/tax-breaks-oil-gas-us.html
ALT: https://archive.is/GMkzU

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[Irish_Dem]

1. Big Oil must fund many campaigns.

Corruption is legal.

[Caribbeans]

2. And yet...

the IRS wants every taxpayer to report everything over $600.

While a trillion $ is added to the debt every ~30 days.

Corruption is legal.

For now.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Two sets of laws.

One for the rich and powerful.
And one for the rest of us.

[Caribbeans]

4. If only there was someone like this still around...

Seems radical in 2024. He'd probably be banned. Censored at the very least.

And called a Conspiracy Theorist.

[Irish_Dem]

5. I miss him. A genius political commentator.

With a brilliant comedic talent.

This performance is of course a classic and more true today than ever before.

Today we can see judges are corrupt, and so are half of our politicians.
Taking money from our enemies and the wealthy.
And outright trying to end democracy.