Oklahoma's Jim Inhofe showed his support for independent oil and natural gas producers on the Senate floor, defending the use of the expensing of intangible drilling costs and percentage depletion.
This week, the U.S. Senate will consider an amendment introduced by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) that would increase taxes on independent producers and have detrimental effects on domestic production, industry jobs and our nation’s energy security. The vote may occur as soon as today.
Sen. Sanders has offered this amendment to the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010. The amendment, Senate Amendment 4318, would eliminate the expensing of intangible drilling and development costs and percentage depletion and deny deductions for income attributable to domestic production of oil and natural gas.
OIPA and its industry allies are deeply concerned that Senators, in an attempt to punish “Big Oil” in the aftermath of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, will pass legislation that would also have a devastating impact on independent producers.
