Although President Bush and Congressional Republicans have tried to sell the tax breaks in the energy bill as providing support for alternative energy and increased efficiency, the $14.5 billion tax package does not award nearly enough to these endeavors. Instead, 58 percent of this will go to tax breaks for traditional energy industries, including oil, natural gas, coal, electric utilities and nuclear power.
This tax package, which was negotiated behind closed doors, will most likely be approved by Congress later this week. Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said, "They've created a complicated scheme of making sure a lot of different profitable energy industries are going to make off like bandits." He also said the tax breaks help companies "pad their bottom line, but it doesn't really create new behavior in the energy industry." Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) of the Finance Committee commented that he wanted to see more spent on alternative energy and conservation.
The $14.5 billion in tax breaks will be partially offset by $3 billion in revenue that the bill will generate. The Joint Committee on Taxation has scored the bill as having a net cost of $11.5 billion over 10 years.
Washington Post: Energy Tax Breaks Total $14.5 Billion (7/28/05)
Taxpayers for Common Sense: Statement on the Energy Bill
Joint Committee on Taxation: Estimated Budget Effects of the Conference Agreement for Title XIII of H.R. 6, the "The Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005"
