Tax Loopholes for Oil Companies

I just got a weekly newsletter from Senator Boxers office (D-California). This time she is promoting a bill that will remove tax loopholes for oil companies and claims it will allow the $21 billion "saved" to be applied directly to the deficit. Now, if I believed this woman I might say this is not a bad idea. But I do not and the idea is really a very bad one for several reasons.

First of all, those tax loopholes are legal and they go to small, local oil companies and businesses as well as the big "mega" oil companies. Eliminating them will hurt a lot of small businesses, especially in Texas and Louisiana. If you are going to address loopholes in the tax code, lets do it right and cleanup the entire tax code. Also, eliminating these loopholes (for oil companies) will actually hurt us consumers because the resulting increase in expenses will just be passed along in the form of higher prices for gas (at a time when that is already way too high).

Another reason I do not like this idea is that --if you think our Congress is going to take the extra $21 billion in cash it gets from this plan and actually apply it to the deficit -you are nuts. As much as they may want to reduce the deficit with it, the minute they get their sticky little hands on it they will suddenly need it to stabilize some little countries economy in Africa or Asia –or build a bridge in Smallville, or fund research into Anaconda reproductive cycles.

Let’s face it, our Congress, Senate and President share a serious affliction –they are all addicted to spending. It’s a serious disease, like alcoholism. I think that before we start talking about finding extra revenue for for the Feds, we should be asking them to start attending “Spending Anonymous” sessions as a regular part of their daily duties…..

Live Long and Prosper......