TPMDC BP: April 2011
Gas Prices
Reid to GOP: Just Try Voting Against Ending Subsidies For Oil Giants
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is following the White House's lead by seizing on the populist idea of ending subsidies for the five largest oil giants.
Reid said he would hold a vote as soon as possible on a bill to eliminate the tax breaks for the five largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, which have reported record profits in recent weeks and months.
"We have to take away the subsidies for these five major oil companies," he told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. "There's no need for these subsidies. The companies have broken records [with their] profits."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 elections, BP, Gas Prices, Harry Reid, John Boehner, Oil, Senate, Speaker of the House
BP
BP To Cut Tax Bill By $13B But Won't Say What It's Paying IRS For 2010
An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig
BP plans to cut its overall tax bill by nearly $13 billion by writing off costs related to last year's mammoth oil spill as the Gulf Coast continues to grapple with the devastating environmental and economic costs of the disaster one year later.
The international oil giant suffered a $40.9 billion loss as a result of the oil spill, making its net losses for 2010 a total of $4.8 billion (BP had $36.1 billion in profits before factoring in the spill), according to its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and analysis by several tax experts consulted by TPM.
Under U.S. corporate law, companies can take credits on up to 35 percent of their losses. In this case, that means U.S. taxpayers are indirectly subsidizing at least part of cleanup cost and the $20 billion fund BP created to compensate people, fisherman and businesses along the Gulf Coast hurt by the spill.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: BP, Barack Obama, EPA, Eliot Engel, Energy, Environment, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, Justice Department, Tax Breaks, Tax Day
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