Plus ca change, cont'd

Flaherty rejects request to end oil tax breaks

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has rejected a request from environmental groups to end an estimated $1.4 billion in annual tax breaks to the booming oil industry.

In a seven-page response to the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, Flaherty defends special tax treatment for the resource sector noting its importance as a source of investment and jobs.
Greg Stringham of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers denied the $1.4 billion tax-break estimate, which is based on research by the Alberta-based Pembina Institute.

He said the estimate is based on outdated information but couldn't provide a current estimate. The industry made $27 billion after taxes last year, he said, a return of 14 per cent.

Stringham said the breaks for the oil industry parallel those available for renewable energies.

Hey, I've got an idea! How about we don't subsidize either of them? MORE: This piece by Larry Solomon makes clear how utterly incoherent our current energy/transportation policy is. We subsidize everything. I make much the same point in this piece.