Later today, the U.S. Senate is expected to approve the final version of the fiscal year 2009 budget resolution which includes a provision authored by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Carl Levin (D-MI) that would eliminate tax subsidies to big oil and gas companies, redirecting the dollars saved to the research and use of alternative sources of energy. The provision will help set the U.S. on a path to energy independence and provide a more sensible energy policy.
Elimination of needless tax breaks for big oil is one of the provisions Senator Collins has called for in her 10 point energy plan, which she recently proposed.
Senator Collins said, “With net profits of a single oil company reaching almost $10 billion in a single quarter, we should not expect taxpayers struggling to pay the high cost of gas, diesel, and home heating oil to continue to subsidize the oil and gas industry.” The provision is similar to legislation Senator Collins introduced last year.
Senator Collins added, “We should take back these oil and gas tax subsidies, and instead address the long-term challenge of reducing our reliance on imported oil. We need to pursue the goal of energy independence just as fervently as the nation embraces the goal in 1961 of putting a man on the moon.”