Oil CEOs head to Hill for grilling
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are calling top executives from the five biggest oil companies before a congressional hearing to flog them verbally for high gasoline prices, big profits and generous tax breaks that Democrats would like to end but don’t have the votes to stop.
“Why on earth, when we are supposedly working to reduce the deficit, would we be subsidizing the top five oil companies?” Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said before the hearing today before the Senate Finance Committee. “It’s time for the big five oil companies to give up these subsidies and allow their companies to pay a fair share towards reducing the deficit.”
The five companies booked profits totaling $36 billion the first quarter of this year. The Democrats say that with profits that high, the big oil companies wouldn’t miss tax breaks that average $2 billion a year.
Menendez introduced a bill that would repeal the tax breaks for the five largest oil companies — Shell Oil, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP America and Chevron. The heads of those companies are slated to testify before the Senate Finance Committee.
On Wednesday, ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO Jim Mulva issued a statement saying a tax increase would cost jobs, discourage investment and lead to even higher gas prices.
Gasoline prices are above $4 a gallon in much of the country. The national average is about $3.96 a gallon for regular unleaded, up from $2.90 a gallon a year ago, according to AAA.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded that eliminating the tax breaks would be unlikely to result in higher gasoline prices, which are influenced by a host of factors. The report, released Wednesday, said eliminating the tax breaks would raise about $1.2 billion in 2012. By comparison, the five oil companies had combined revenues of $1.5 trillion, and profits of more than $76 billion, in 2010, the report said.
