OT - Republicans trying to buy your vote

Vote republican, get a c-note. This is easily the crassest political
move I've ever seen.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12509275/

$100 gasoline rebates to help deal with prices?
Senate Republicans propose instant relief, tie it to drilling in arctic
refuge

The Associated Press
Updated: 10:10 a.m. ET April 27, 2006


WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans advocate sending $100 rebate checks to
millions of taxpayers, and a Democrat is leading the campaign for a 60-
day gasoline tax holiday.

Either way, it seems no one in Congress wants to be without a plan,
however symbolic, to attack the election-year spike in gasoline prices.

A vote is possible as early as this week on the Senate GOP approach,
which calls for $100 rebate checks for taxpayers to cushion the impact
of higher gasoline prices. The measure seems unlikely to prevail, at
least initially, since it includes a highly controversial proposal to
open a portion of Alaska?s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
drilling.

Senate Republicans also favor extending a tax break that manufacturers
receive for each hybrid vehicle they make, and want President Bush to
suspend deliveries to the nation?s strategic petroleum reserve for six
months.

Democrats seemed caught off guard by the GOP maneuvering, but a
spokesman said they would have a plan of their own.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has proposed a 60-day suspension in the
federal tax on gasoline and diesel, a holiday that he says would cut the
cost of gasoline by more than 18 cents a gallon and reduce the price of
diesel fuel by more than 24 cents a gallon.

Scramble to respond
The Senate Finance Committee provided additional evidence of the
lawmakers? scramble to respond. In a rare move, the panel requested tax
returns from the country?s major oil and gas companies as part of an
investigation into industry profits and soaring gasoline costs.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee?s chairman, said senators
were concerned about the ?record profits and significant executive
compensation in the oil and gas industry.?


?I want to make sure the oil companies aren?t taking a speed pass by the
tax man,? Grassley said in a statement.

With gasoline prices soaring and oil companies announcing record
profits, ?it?s relevant to know what the real financial picture is for
this industry,? added Montana Sen. Max Baucus, the panel?s ranking
Democrat.

It?s highly unusual for the Senate committee to seek corporate tax
records. The last time it made such a request to the IRS it involved the
tax records of the bankrupt Enron Corp.

Public anger
The committee announcement came as Washington scrambled to respond to
public anger over soaring gasoline prices ? $3 a gallon or more in many
parts of the country ? and try to contain the political fallout.

On Tuesday, Bush suspended filling of the nation?s emergency oil
reserve, urged the waiver of clean air rules to ease local gas shortages
and called for the repeal of $2 billion in tax breaks for profit-heavy
oil companies. He also urged lawmakers to expand tax breaks for the
purchase of fuel-efficient hybrid automobiles.

Both Republicans and Democrats said they planned to support rescinding
the $2 billion in tax breaks, which included subsidies for exploration
in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and in geologically or politically
difficult regions of the world, as well as royalty relief for certain
oil and gas exploration. Executives of the major oil companies said at a
recent hearing they do not need those tax breaks.

House and Senate conferees ? as part of a broader tax package ? were
also considering a measure that would change accounting rules involving
oil held in inventory, which would force the five biggest oil companies
to pay an additional $4.3 million in taxes.

The industry and the White House oppose that measure, viewing it as a
form of windfall profit tax that singles out five companies for
accounting practices widely used in and out of the oil industry.


Profits and tax records
Republican leaders and tax writers said they hope to finish work on the
broader tax bill this week, but it?s not certain the oil inventory tax
measure will survive.

Several major oil companies were expected to report sharp increases in
their first quarter profits this week. On Wednesday, ConocoPhillips said
its earnings rose 13 percent to $3.29 billion in the first quarter.

In a letter to the IRS, Grassley and Baucus said the tax records of the
major oil companies are needed to conduct ?a comprehensive review? of
the companies? compliance with tax laws.

?As pressure mounts to address extraordinarily high gas prices that
consumers are facing at the pump, we feel we should better understand
the federal tax posture of the industry,? the two senators wrote IRS
Commissioner Mark Everson.

Retirement plan questioned
In their request, the senators noted not only the industry profits, but
?an extremely lucrative retirement plan by one oil and gas industry
executive, benefits which may have been subsidized in part by the
taxpayers.?

The retirement compensation package given by Exxon Mobil Corp. to
outgoing Chairman Lee Raymond is said to total $400 million when all
pension payoffs and stock options are included.

Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the major
oil companies Washington-based lobbying group, said Wednesday oil
company profits are huge because the industry is huge.

?In the oil and natural gas business size is everything,? Cavaney said
at a news conference. ?It is critical to understand that fact when
looking at the operational financial performance of our industry.?

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2006 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12509275/

--
If I were a cactus, I wouldn't need so much water.
.

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