http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/1998/12/121798/tbreak.asp
$17.8 BILLION IN POLLUTER TAX BREAKS REVEALED
SUMMARY
Federal tax breaks for polluting industries, such as oil and gas, mining,
timber and agribusiness corporations, are estimated to grow to $17.8 billion
over the next five years, according to a report released Monday by the
Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. The environmental group Friends of
the Earth says the report, Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal
Years 1999-2003, is evidence of how the government gives billions of dollars
away in annual tax breaks to businesses that harm the environment.
FULL STORY
$17.8 BILLION IN POLLUTER TAX BREAKS REVEALED
Thursday, December 17, 1998
Oil and gas industry tax breaks will amount to about $11 billion over the next
five years.
Federal tax breaks for polluting industries, such as oil and gas, mining,
timber and agribusiness corporations, are estimated to grow to $17.8 billion
over the next five years, according to a report released Monday by the
Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth says the report, Estimates of
Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 1999-2003, is evidence of how the
government gives billions of dollars away in annual tax breaks to businesses
that harm the environment.
Oil and gas tax breaks alone account for close to $11 billion. These subsidies
not only cost ordinary U.S. taxpayers more in taxes, but they stunt the growth
of emerging, environmentally friendly energy technologies, which are crucial
to sustainable development, said Friends of the Earth.
"Santa came early this year for polluting industries," said Gawain Kripke,
director of economic campaigns at Friends of the Earth. "Congress should play
Scrooge and cut these dirty tax breaks."
The tax breaks include:
$11 billion for tax breaks and loopholes that subsidize exploration and
production activities for the oil and gas industry
$1.9 billion for tax breaks to the mining industry -- some of which comes from
mining minerals on public lands
$900 million in special provisions for timber companies, which the
environmental group says drives down the costs of virgin wood products at the
expense of recycled goods
$3.9 billion for loopholes intended to benefit small farmers but that
primarily benefit large agribusiness
"We cannot allow the continued rape of the land by polluters who would deplete
our forests, scar our public lands, pollute our air and water and then have
the tax code subsidize their destruction," said Representative Pete Stark,
D-Calif., a member of the Ways and Means Committee. "This $17.8 billion in
corporate welfare is unconscionable."
Friends of the Earth has tracked corporate welfare for polluters in the tax
code since 1995 and recently updated Dirty Little Secrets, a report targeting
the 15 worst tax breaks for the environment.
"Tax loopholes continue to reward corporations that pollute the air and water,
drill for oil and gas and cut down forests," said Brian Dunkiel, Friends of
the Earth director of tax policy. "It is time to put an end to these
unnecessary and harmful subsidies."
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