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2018 Jan 7, 3:34pm   942 views  2 comments

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1   anonymous   2018 Jan 28, 7:31pm  

Fossil Fuel Companies Donated To House Tax Writer As Congress Finalized Tax Break For Industry

A new campaign finance report released Thursday shows an industry excited about a special provision in the GOP tax plan. A host of oil and gas pipeline companies, executives and a trade group made donations to the joint fundraising committee of Republican Texas Rep. Kevin Brady — chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which wrote that chamber’s version of the tax bill — while the final bill was being negotiated between the House and Senate.

The House’s version, passed on Nov. 16, reduced the tax rate for income from master limited partnerships (MLPs), which are investment vehicles mostly used by oil and gas pipeline companies. Income from MLPs, which “passes through” these companies and goes directly to investors, would be capped at 25 percent, which is well below the 39.6 percent rate that most MLP investors then paid. The Senate’s version, passed on Dec. 2, included a special 23 percent tax deduction — inserted by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Finance Committee — for MLP income.

The MLP Association said in a press release on Dec. 23, three days after the final tax bill passed both chambers, “Congress rightly decided to take steps to preserve MLPs and their ability to attract lower cost capital through the public markets.”

“The MLP rules have helped these companies avoid corporate-level taxation for decades,” Doug Koplow, founder of Earth Track, an organization that tracks energy subsidies, told IBT in December. “Under the tax bill the tax burden on the partners of the MLPs is going to be reduced as well.”

International Business Times first reported that 16 federal lawmakers, 13 of whom are Republicans, collectively own up to $10.6 million in energy-related MLPs. All 13 voted for the tax bill.

On Dec. 4, House Speaker Paul Ryan picked Brady, one of the top GOP representatives in charge of tax policy, to chair the House-Senate conference committee, which first met on Dec. 13 and agreed on the final bill that became law. MLP trade groups and oil and gas companies that own MLPs wanted the most favorable MLP tax benefit to make it into the final bill.

The Texas congressman’s final 2017 campaign finance report hasn’t yet surfaced, but the new report from his joint fundraising committee, the Brady Victory Fund, shows that a significant portion of his late 2017 donations came from the oil and gas industry.

Full Article: http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/fossil-fuel-companies-donated-house-tax-writer-congress-finalized-tax-break
2   Strategist   2018 Jan 28, 8:16pm  

anonymous says
The United States of Petroleum: Government’s secret alliance with Big Oil

Good article. Thanks for posting.
Too many of our politicians are in the pockets of big oil. With literally $trillions in profits at stake, Big Oil is the 800lb gorilla that sleeps wherever it wants. They could control us, but they cannot control all the countries. The world cannot progress further with incredible amounts of pollution fucking up our planet. Airports in Asia are forced to close because of the smog. One billion people on the planet don't have electricity, and will not, with the pollution fossil fuel causes. The whole world realizes that clean energy is the only way forward. With prices of clean energy so low, and still falling like a rock, fossil fuels cannot compete. It's over...Kaput-adios-chou-fuck you-sayonara.

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