For those who like to ponder subsidies consider the Real Cost of Oil

[JohnWxy]

http://www.ethanol.org/documents/Real_Cost_of_Oil_Aug_05_000.pdf

Five years ago, a United States General Accounting
Office (USGAO) report showed that ethanol had
received $11.6 billion in tax incentives since 1968,
while the oil industry had received over $150
billion in tax benefit over the same period.


The U.S. government has, for decades, given
the oil industry preferential treatment afforded
virtually no other business sector. The petroleum
industry has the luxury of U.S. military protection
of its international interests, while American
taxpayers fund the warehousing of emergency
inventory in the form of strategic petroleum
reserves. The oil industry reaps the benefits of
the U.S tax system, receiving preferential tax
treatment on its costs for exploration, more
attractive depreciation rules, and even credits for
paying taxes to Middle Eastern governments.
What’s more, the environmental, health, and social
costs that Americans bear are rarely paid by the
oil industry - rather, much of the reparations are
hidden within bills funded by taxes.
~~
~~
The International Center for Technology
Assessment (CTA) released a study in December
1998 quantifying the true costs of oil. The study
identified the following federal tax breaks as
directly benefiting the oil industry:

• Percentage Depletion Allowance:
$784 million - $1 billion per year

• Non-conventional Fuel Production Credit:
$769 million - $900 million

• Immediate expensing of exploration and
development costs: $200 million -
$255 million

• Enhanced Oil Recovery Credit: $26.3
million - $100 million

• Foreign tax credits: $1.11 billion -
$3.4 billion

• Foreign income deferrals: $183 million
- $318 million

• Accelerated depreciation allowances:
$1.0 billion - $4.5 billion

Also, the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 has
recently added new rules, thus increasing the
likelihood of supplying the petroleum industry
with an additional $2.07 billion per year in
tax subsidies.

In addition to federal subsidies, the oil
industry receives substantial subsidies on the
state level. Many state income taxes are rooted
in oil firms’ deflated federal tax bill resulting in
undertaxation of $125 million to $323 million per
year. Gasoline retailers and users benefit from
state-imposed fuel taxes which are lower than
regular sales tax, resulting in a $4.8 billion per
year subsidy.

OF course this doesn't take into account the cost of securing oil fields and pipelines which is part of the defense budget - nor the cost of invading IRAQ (and how do you put a dollar figure on 2,300 lives?)

There is much more to this report than what I have excerpted here. IT's a good read.

[JohnWxy]

1. And Some more: The Best Energy Bill Corporations Could Buy

The Best Energy Bill Corporations Could Buy: Summary of Industry Giveaways in the 2005 Energy Bill


http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/energybill/2005/articles.cfm?ID=13980

[JohnWxy]

2. and voting DOWN the Renwable ENergy Standard

http://action.citizen.org/scorecard/rollcall.jsp?roll_call_ID=4515