API comments on administration’s final budget proposal

The administration’s final budget proposal, which includes new energy taxes, signals a lame duck assault on American consumers, jobs and the US economy, according to API President and CEO Jack Gerard.

“No longer constrained by electoral considerations, the administration has shifted from a balanced all of the above strategy on energy to an extreme policy objective: to choke off America’s energy renaissance and keep fossil fuels in the ground at the expense of consumers. The US$10 per barrel tax hike proposal and other higher taxes on American production proposed in the budget are just the latest expressions of what has been an increasingly hostile campaign against American consumers and our nation’s economy.

“The US$10 per barrel tax hike – which would add about 30% to the cost of a barrel of oil and potentially about US$0.25 to the cost of a gallon of gasoline, according to reports – should be a wake up call. This is what ‘leave it in the ground’ ideology really means: harm to consumers, diminished American competitiveness, weakened energy security and a return to energy dependence. It’s a head in the sand movement.

“The proposed tax hikes could also have an impact on food prices and all sorts of goods that rely on transportation to reach consumers. Lower income and middle class Americans, for whom essentials like transportation and grocery bills consume a greater percentage of their income, would be harmed the most by these outrageous tax proposals.

“Only extremists whose goals ignore the concerns of consumers and lower income families could welcome the administration’s backward approach.”

Adapted from press release by Rosalie Starling

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/10022016/api-comments-on-administrations-final-budget-proposal-2431/