Big oil gets subsidies. They have record prices.
Cato-at-liberty » Oil Subsidies in the Dock
The main issue is the so-called
Section 199 tax credit passed in 2005. The credit is available to all domestic manufacturers - not just to oil and gas companies - and it allows the oil industry to write-off $13.6 billion over ten years that might otherwise be sent to the federal treasury. While a good case could be made to get rid of Section 199
in toto – the feds shouldn’t be in the business of artificially making some business activities more economically attractive than others – limiting that deduction for oil and gas companies and oil and gas companies
only will compound the underlying economic distortion and encourage investors to put relatively less money in oil and gas production and more money in other industrial sectors. How is that a good thing with oil prices topping $100 a barrel?