WASHINGTON, March 21, 2013 – Seventy-four percent of registered voters believe politicians should address the nation’s budget issues without raising energy taxes, according to a new
Harris Interactive poll, API Director for Tax and Accounting Policy Stephen Comstock
told reporters this morning:
“Strong majorities hold this view even when the results are broken down according to party, gender and age. For example, 90 percent of Republicans, 74 percent of Independents, and 64 percent of Democrats do not believe politicians should raise energy taxes to address our budget problems. In the poll, 69 percent of registered voters also believe raising taxes on oil and natural gas companies could drive up energy costs and 57 percent believe it could kill jobs and hurt the economy. Sixty-three percent agree that raising taxes only on America’s oil and natural gas industry, or just on a handful of companies, would be bad tax policy, as well as unfair and discriminatory.
“And not only are most Americans skeptical about industry tax hikes, but the increases simply wouldn’t be effective. And we could raise far more revenue another way without putting additional burdens on the American people or on the economy…. [W]e could do much better by investing more in domestic energy production. We could generate more revenue along with more energy and jobs. That would require opening up more federal areas to oil and natural gas development and keeping regulations reasonable. But if policymakers are willing to get energy policy right, our industry can generate the revenue.”
API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 550 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.