Proposed parish pipeline provides promise
May 3, 2011
Rebecca Cheramie
May 5, 2011Dear Editor,
As the daughter of an offshore oil field worker, I’m worried that any job security my dad has could be scuttled by government efforts to target the energy industry. The president, his allies in Congress, and two senators, who now say they want to make the tax code fairer and simpler, want to heap a big new tax on U.S. oil and gas companies.
They aim to do this by ending Sec. 199 of the tax code which gives American manufacturers, including energy companies, a credit to help them increase production, expand operations and boost employment. This leg-up keeps a lot of workers like him in jobs and helps to move our state’s economy ahead after the Gulf oil spill of a year ago.
Some in our government also have in their sights the “dual capacity” tax credit that allows U.S. oil and gas companies to avoid being taxed twice on income earned overseas. Without the credit, these businesses would lose out in competition against state-subsidized oil producers and generate less revenue. That means fewer jobs and higher fuel prices for you, me and all Americans.
We all know that it’s been a tough couple of years for Louisiana businesses, families and communities. Higher energy prices could put an end to our state’s slow and uneven economic revival, and that would go hard for energy workers and thousands of others who depend on the industry for business. Hitting up energy companies for higher taxes is just a bad idea at a bad time.
Summer Davis,
Lafayette, La.
