Greg Sowards
Apparently, progressive Democrats believe the good people of New Mexico have etch-a-sketch memories.
A recent article in the Albuquerque Journal entitled “Tax Support for Oil and Gas Debated” allows the Republican, independent and Democrat voters of New Mexico to see through the political games of career politicians.
The facts are plain. President Obama has released his 2012 budget proposal, which calls for another trillion dollars to be added to the national debt. Included in the budget was a repeal of tax exemptions for the exploration and production (E&P) of oil and natural gas.
This repeal will force small oil and gas producers to cut production by as much as a third, which means the loss of over 100,000 American jobs. Plus, for every energy job lost, up to four jobs will be lost in related industries.
The Treasury Department said these exemptions, necessary for the last 80 years, have led to “too much investment” in the oil and gas industry.
Independent oil and gas producers, which are made up of thousands of small businesses around the country, develop 90 percent of new domestic oil and gas wells and provide 500,000 solid-paying jobs in America’s troubled economy.
Treasury’s statement, if accurate, means that in a time of crushing unemployment, too many people are working.
An outrageous and politically motivated stance
I, like many other Americans calling for energy independence as a national security imperative, find the Treasury Department’s stance to be both outrageous and politically motivated.
The left-leaning fringe of the Democratic Party has called for an end to subsidies for Big Oil. The E&P exemptions in question, however, are not subsidies; they are expenses for entrepreneurs – big and small – that invest millions of dollars in exploration and know there is a 40 percent chance of a new well producing zero return.
Doubling down on Solyndra, the current administration is betting that green energy will be more competitive if the incentives to take risks in fossil fuels are taken off the table.
In my opinion, as a small business owner and entrepreneur, the federal government should not be in the business of manipulating the free market for the purpose of picking winners and losers.
What’s next? Will Obama stop grocers from writing off the cost of spoiled produce as an expense? In both cases, higher prices and fewer jobs will be the result.
President Obama’s failed energy policies are driving investment dollars overseas, killing jobs in America and increasing our dependence on foreign energy supplies.
Flip-flopping politicians
As a U.S. Senate candidate, I find it interesting that the class warfare rhetoric that underlines the administration’s decision to punish the oil and gas industry has caused progressive career politicians here in New Mexico to flip-flop like freshly caught bass.
For instance, retiring U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, who I intend to replace in the 2012 election, said, “I think it makes sense to distinguish the incentives that benefit truly small independent producers from those that benefit only the largest and most profitable integrated producers.”
Taking this as his cue to flip-flop on the issue, Congressman Martin Heinrich, after years of calling for increased taxes on millionaires and billionaires, decided to cozy up to local oil and gas producers by blurring the lines between subsidies and expense write-offs.
Hooked to the class warfare line, the candidate Heinrich said, “American taxpayers shouldn’t have to pick up the tab for billions in subsidies for big oil companies like BP and ExxonMobil. At the same time, we must support New Mexico’s small producers and allow intangible drilling costs to be deducted as expenses.”
Sadly, the congressman’s dedication to punishment politics has forced him to be a different man in New Mexico today than he has been in D.C. for the last few years. Worse, he has demonstrated a willingness to compromise principles to achieve a political office, which is my definition of a career politician.
We need more millionaires
As the next U.S. senator representing New Mexico, my message will remain consistent: We must reclaim the American Dream.
Restoring the promise of prosperity to New Mexico and America requires a free market that encourages the rise of more millionaires. Three out of four millionaires in America today are small business owners. Small businesses account for 75 percent of all jobs in America. To solve our economic crisis, America needs more taxpayers, not a sliding scale of punishment.
Our children and grandchildren deserve representatives in Washington beholden to the conservation of America’s founding principles, not career politicians who are in the pocket of extreme environmentalist lobbies like the League of Conservation Voters.
Sowards is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.