Today's issue comes from gossip style quips:from the presidential candidates about exactly who supports tax breaks for Big Oil. Here is the statute in question:
(a) TREATMENT AS EXPENSES.—A taxpayer may elect to treat 50 percent of the cost of any qualified refinery property as an expense which is not chargeable to capital account. Any cost so treated shall be allowed as a deduction for the taxable year in which the qualified refinery property is placed in service.
Simply, this allows owners of refineries to deduct 50% of operating cost of a refinery, thus not having to pay tax on it. So, which presidential candidate voted for the measure, and which one voted against it?
The issue began when Barack Obama alleged:
Obama has said McCain's support for additional offshore oil drilling is evidence that he would effectively give the country another term of the Bush presidency.
John McCain responded today:
"I guess the senator [Obama] has changed his position since voting for the 2005 Bush energy bill—a grab-bag of corporate handouts that I opposed," McCain said. "Come to think of it, that energy bill was the only time we've ever seen Senator Obama vote in favor of any tax break—and it was a tax break for the oil companies."
It turns out John McCain is correct. The record is clear that Obama supported the measure while John McCain did not. Is this the kind of change you can believe in? Comments are welcome.