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O&G companies are able to write off the cost of doing business just like other businesses. They are not "subsidies". https://www.forbes.com/sites/drillinginfo/

O&G companies are able to write off the cost of doing business just like other businesses. They are not "subsidies". https://www.forbes.com/sites/drillinginfo/2016/02/22/debunking-myths-about-federal-oil-gas-subsidies/#cbd6cf06e1cd https://www.forbes.com/sites/drillinginfo/2016/02/22/debunki...

lostlogin 9y ago
It’s a ballsy move to compare the oil and gas industries to health. There is plenty to criticise about the way the US healthcare system is run, but do people really begrudge treating the two industries differently?
- SilasX 9y ago
  Yes, I do begrudge the dickens out of people who insist that being able to deduct oil exploration costs is an unfair "subsidy" to oil and whose removal would instantly turbocharge renewables by itself. Letting companies deduct expenses like everyone else is not a subsidy. It's like it's become part of the common mythos, that US oil companies get massive cash subsidies that are the sole reason they're not beaten by renewables, but the moment you apply any scrutiny it falls apart. (Environmental concerns are legit, but the lack of better regulation is a non-standard usage of "subsidy" and people go further to claim that tax-deductions-everyone-gets are subsidies.)
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    Do not think that some industries should be disincentivised and others incentivised?
    - SilasX 9y ago
      I think specific activities, irrespective of industry, should have their external costs priced in. I don't think that failure to do so the same thing as a cash subsidy.
      - lostlogin 9y ago
        So stick approach rather than a carrot? If that’s what you mean I think I prefer this.
computerphage 9y ago
That author claims that tax exemptions aren't subsidies "according to Dictionary.com".
michaelt 9y ago
If I run a paint factory and all my competitors have to pay to to have their toxic waste hauled away and properly disposed of, but the taxpayer foots the bill for disposing my waste, that sounds like a subsidy to me. Does it cease to be a subsidy if I'm dumping the waste in a river and the government is hauling it away from there, rather than collecting it at the factory gate? Seems to me anyone who's opposed to government subsidies would also be opposed to profiting from negative externalities.

lostlogin 9y ago

It’s a ballsy move to compare the oil and gas industries to health. There is plenty to criticise about the way the US healthcare system is run, but do people really begrudge treating the two industries differently?

SilasX 9y ago
Yes, I do begrudge the dickens out of people who insist that being able to deduct oil exploration costs is an unfair "subsidy" to oil and whose removal would instantly turbocharge renewables by itself. Letting companies deduct expenses like everyone else is not a subsidy. It's like it's become part of the common mythos, that US oil companies get massive cash subsidies that are the sole reason they're not beaten by renewables, but the moment you apply any scrutiny it falls apart. (Environmental concerns are legit, but the lack of better regulation is a non-standard usage of "subsidy" and people go further to claim that tax-deductions-everyone-gets are subsidies.)
- lostlogin 9y ago
  Do not think that some industries should be disincentivised and others incentivised?
  - SilasX 9y ago
    I think specific activities, irrespective of industry, should have their external costs priced in. I don't think that failure to do so the same thing as a cash subsidy.
    - lostlogin 9y ago
      So stick approach rather than a carrot? If that’s what you mean I think I prefer this.

computerphage 9y ago

That author claims that tax exemptions aren't subsidies "according to Dictionary.com".

michaelt 9y ago

If I run a paint factory and all my competitors have to pay to to have their toxic waste hauled away and properly disposed of, but the taxpayer foots the bill for disposing my waste, that sounds like a subsidy to me. Does it cease to be a subsidy if I'm dumping the waste in a river and the government is hauling it away from there, rather than collecting it at the factory gate? Seems to me anyone who's opposed to government subsidies would also be opposed to profiting from negative externalities.