Dear Friends:

       It’s bad enough to pay $4 for a gallon of gas at the pump, but did you know that your tax dollars are also subsidizing the oil companies at a time of record-breaking profits across the industry?  That’s just adding insult to injury!

       Last week, in response to a question about the oil industry’s stratospheric profits, House Speaker John Boehner stated that oil companies are “gonna pay their fair share in taxes.”  I certainly agree that oil companies do need to pay their share, but I’m not holding my breath until the Speaker schedules a vote to end these wasteful tax breaks. In the last quarter alone, the six largest oil companies reported more than $34 billion in profits.

       Despite these astounding windfalls, you, me, and all other taxpayers still pay $4 billion dollars a year to subsidize their operations. At a time when too many middle-class Americans are struggling to find work and household budgets are under tremendous strain, oil companies are raking in the cash and getting preferential tax treatment to boot.

       This week, I cosponsored the Big Oil Welfare Repeal Act, H.R. 1689, which would end the indefensible taxpayer subsidies for the largest oil companies.  There’s just no reason to provide $4 billion in subsidies to an industry that is reaping record-shattering profits.  

       So, I urge Speaker Boehner to bring H.R. 1689 to the House floor for a vote to make oil companies, as the Speaker himself said, “pay their fair share in taxes.”  Taxpayers already pay the oil companies enough at the pump.  Certainly these multi-billion oil companies do not need the continued largesse of ridiculous tax subsidies courtesy of the American taxpayer.


Sincerely,

Gary L. Ackerman