FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2017
Contact
Janet Redman, janet [at] priceofoil [dot] org
David Turnbull, david [at] priceofoil [dot] org
Senate Tax Bill Protects Handouts to Fossil Fuels at the Expense of Working Families
Today, lawmakers in the U.S. Senate are releasing a tax bill that, according to reports, will protect billions in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and puts in place huge cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans and a permanent reduction of the corporate tax rate. In anticipation of the release of the final text of the legislation, Janet Redman, U.S. Policy Director at Oil Change International, released the following statement: 
“This tax bill will be no surprise, but it would be a disaster. It is the latest example of GOP efforts to prop up the dirty fossil fuel industry and their corporate cronies while giving short shrift to American families. The GOP is once again trying to redirect taxpayer money to the super-rich and super-polluting fossil fuel industry – and they expect us to pay for it by giving up our healthcare, our safety, and our children’s future. Communities across the country are just beginning to recover from hurricanes and wildfires made worse by climate change, yet the Senate keeps handing billions to climate polluters. It is simply unconscionable.”
“When the final text is made public, we will go through it with a fine-toothed comb looking for new and expanded dirty energy handouts. We’re keeping an especially close watch out for a proposal to expand the tax credit outlined in Section 45Q of the federal tax code that incentivizes oil companies to use climate pollution to extract even more crude. If the 45Q tax credit to Big Oil is expanded in the Senate tax bill, it would constitute the single largest subsidy to the fossil fuel industry.”
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Note to editors:
More information about U.S. tax breaks and other subsidies to the fossil fuel industry can be found here: https://priceofoil.org/2017/10/03/dirty-energy-dominance-us-subsidies/
More information about the oil production, emissions, and taxpayer cost implications of expanding the Section 45Q tax credit can be found here: https://priceofoil.org/2017/10/24/expanding-subsidies-for-co2-enhanced-oil-recovery-a-net-loss-for-communities-taxpayers-and-the-climate/