Big Surprise: Industries Benefiting From Tax Breaks Want to Keep Them
Just as Big Oil would like to keep its tax breaks, so too do the chief executives of renewable energy companies. The pleading press release issued by the special interests, ah, that is, the representatives of the hydro, geothermal, and biomass companies that generate electricity explains:
Executives from the hydropower, geothermal and biomass power industries called on congressional leaders to extend the production tax credit through 2016 for hydropower, geothermal and biomass.
The three industries operate in parts of the country not often associated with renewable energy — particularly the Southeast and Mountain West — and company and trade association leaders expressed concern for a looming crisis that has put thousands of jobs in these states at risk. The call comes as opponents of renewable energy tax policy place the future of these industries in jeopardy, according to the group.
Of course, the executives are not concerned about protecting their grubby profits; it's all about JOBS!
Go here for a superb article, The Difference Between a Tax Break and a Subsidy, by Reason contributing columnist A. Barton Hinkle in which he explains how tax credits an ideologue doesn't like are "subsidies" and ones that the same ideologue does like are mere "tax benefits." If tax credits are a subsidy to Big Oil, they are also a subsidy to Sanctified Renewables, or they are not for both.
