Exxon’s Record Profits: Congress, Please Repeal Oil Industry Tax Breaks!
Contact: Erich Pica, 202-222-0739
ExxonMobil’s fourth quarter and annual profits are staggering. In today’s announcement, ExxonMobil stated earnings of $10.7 billion in the fourth quarter and $36.1 billion in profits last year. Congress should respond by repealing the $14 billion in tax cuts it’s lavished on Big Oil—handouts that even President Bush says they don’t need.
Big Oil is reaping these record profits at the expense of ordinary Americans who are struggling to meet the high cost of energy. After being pinched at the pump for months, consumers are now being hit by the high cost of home heating.
Oil companies aren’t just profiting from skyrocketing energy prices—they’re feeding from a government trough of tax cuts and other handouts courtesy of the American taxpayer. These big oil companies were on the receiving end of more than $4 billion in spending subsidies and tax incentives included in the energy bill Congress passed this summer. And they were already set to reap an additional $10 billion in tax cuts authorized prior to passage of the energy bill. Just last week The New York Times reported that oil and gas companies failed to pay more than $700 million in royalties to the federal government.
Lavishing billions on ExxonMobil and company tilts the playing field even farther toward Big Oil and away from efficiency, conservation and renewable energy—solutions that will help consumers today and reduce our dependence on oil in the future.
President Bush himself said it best when he stated, “With oil at more than $50 a barrel, by the way, energy companies do not need taxpayers’- funded incentives to explore for oil and gas.” With ExxonMobil continuing to post record-breaking profits, we couldn’t agree more.
Exxon Exposed: Watch the movie and take action.