Definitely NOT!!! The last thing we need is for big oil to have a long term dependence on our government. I don't know about you but private military contractors are bad enough.
Exxon Profit Surges Amid Consumer Discontent on Gasoline Prices By Joe Carroll - Apr 28, 2011 9:19 AM PT Signs sit on display at an Exxon gas station in Dearborn, Michigan. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg Exxon Earnings Rise Signs sit on display at an Exxon gas station in Dearborn, Michigan. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the worldâs largest company by market value, posted its largest profit in almost three years as soaring gasoline prices fueled discontent among consumers and policymakers. With U.S. motorists paying the most for gasoline since prices reached a record $4.11 a gallon in the summer of 2008, Exxon said today that its first-quarter net income jumped 69 percent to $10.7 billion. The Irving, Texas-based company is sitting on a cash pile of $13.2 billion, even after distributing more than $7 billion to shareholders in buybacks and dividends. President Barack Obama has called for an end to decades-old tax breaks for domestic oil and natural-gas drilling, and urged Saudi Arabia, the worldâs largest crude exporter, to help rein in surging world crude prices by boosting output. Exxon said inflicting higher taxes would drain funds the company needs to find new oil and gas fields. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...umers-and-lawmakers-fume-over-gas-prices.html
I think the foreign tax credit and ability to expense the costs of drilling a rig in the year it was done are reasonable. The end of the depletion allowance probably wouldn't affect the bottom line of oil companies but it would make their earnings choppier when they had to write down the estimated oil reserves after a field has stopped producing (much like loan losses for banks). The end to the domestic manufacturing tax deduction estimated to be at 1.7 bill./year is justified since its original intent was to keep industry from leaving america. By definition all oil drilled in the US is not possible to be produced outside the US, so I think 1.7 bill. of the proposed 4 bill. is justified.