Last Wednesday, it was determined that BP would be getting $13 billion in tax credits. It is not clear if BP is even going to pay any taxes at all or if it will actually get money from the government after this.
Why is BP getting so much money?
Because you guessed it…
Because they caused this massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico….
Yeah, that’s right, BP got to write off its losses from the oil spill.
Residents, clean up workers and fish, marine mammals, birds and animals are suffering (if they haven’t already suffered and died) from this unprecedented disaster, the country is struggling, and BP gets to skip tax season because it’s own mistake caused it to foul the sea and then lose a bit of money.
And the $13 billion tax deduction is hard to even comprehend as a stand alone number.
But let’s put it this way:
It’s about equal to the EPA’s annual budget, which just got slashed considerably by a Tea-Party-drunk Congress.
And it’s equal to about 1/3 of the total budget cuts our government has put forward for 2011.
Americans shouldn’t have to endure massive budget cuts because BP took a $10 billion tax deduction for destroying the gulf.
Go ahead, and tell BP: Amend your tax return fillings and pay your fair share.
And because there is an excellent precedent that says BP did not have to deduct these costs for tax advantages.
Last year, Goldman Sachs waived a tax deduction it could have claimed as a result of paying $500 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission for giving bad information to mortgage investors.
BP has cost the nation enough already. It shouldn’t be rewarding itself with huge tax savings.
BP’s $10 billion tax credit slashes its liability by one third – at every US taxpayer’s expense. Tell BP to amend their tax return and pay their fair share.
Yours,
Pano
PS:
Otherwise dump their shares…
