House Rewards Chavez For Not Producing Oil

Conn Carroll / February 28, 2008

We know liberals in Congress are sympathetic to Hugo Chavez leftist agenda, but cutting him a tax break is a little over the line. Yesterday, the House passed an energy bill that raised taxes on American oil and gas companies. Notice the emphasis on ‘American.’ What should surprise everyone is that Citgo, Chavez’ personal ATM that operates in the U.S., is still getting a 6 percent tax break for domestic manufacturing that Exxon, Chevron, BP, Conoco-Phillips and Shell will all loose. How is this possible?

The House figures that since Petroleos de Venezuela, doesn’t actually produce any oil and gas in the U.S, they just refine and distribute it, they shouldn’t have to face the punitive taxation that the House wants to inflict on U.S. oil producers. So just at a time when oil is reaching over $100 a barrel liberals want to decrease domestic production and give Chavez a financial leg up on his U.S. competitors. All this so the House can pat itself on the back for “doing something” about global warming.