WASHINGTON, April 4, 2013 ─ Seventy-nine percent of Louisiana voters believe Washington should resolve the country's budget issues without raising taxes on energy, according to a new poll conducted by Harris Interactive for API’s “What America is Thinking on Energy Issues” series.
“Higher energy taxes hurt everyone,” said API President and CEO Jack Gerard. “Americans know that driving up energy costs harms families and slows down job creation; a sentiment expressed across every political, age and gender line. Higher energy taxes are not a solution that will solve Washington’s budget problems.”
The telephone poll of 604 registered voters also found that 66 percent said singling out the oil and natural gas industry for higher taxes—or even just a handful of companies in the industry—is unfair, discriminatory, and bad tax policy. Voters agreed raising taxes on oil and natural gas companies could drive up costs for consumers (77 percent) while killing jobs and hurting the economy (64 percent), according to the poll.
“Singling out specific companies or specific industries for tax increases is discriminatory, unfair, and simply bad public policy,” said Gerard. “Today it’s oil and natural gas, but who’s next? This is not how tax policy should be made. Americans get that raising taxes can increase their costs. We should focus on bringing down costs for energy consumers by approving the Keystone Pipeline, speeding up drilling permits, ending costly and unattainable ethanol mandates, and opening up some of the 83 percent of federal lands and waters that remain off limits.”
API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $85 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.
Methodology
The telephone study was conducted on March 8-17, 2013 by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Petroleum Institute (API) among 604 registered voters in Louisiana, with a sampling error of +/- 4.0%. A full methodology is available upon request. Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading custom market research firms, known widely for the Harris Poll. For more information, visit
www.harrisinteractive.com.
“What America is Thinking on Energy Issues” is a public opinion series provided by API, offering data to inform policy discussions and ensure policymakers and others know Americans’ perspectives on key energy issues.