T’s time to end fossil fuel subsidies
I was only 10 when the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. However, that was when I first learned how harmful fossil fuels are to our environment. As a young adult, I’ve become even more concerned with the state of our future.
This summer, here in Massachusetts, we saw some of the devastating effects climate change has on our environment, health and livelihoods. Although Massachusetts committed to “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, we should be doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the U.S. government wastes $20 billion on the fossil fuel industry every year in the form of tax breaks, incentives and subsidies. Our tax dollars are supporting oil and gas companies that already make millions in profits every year. Even worse, this money will help these companies build infrastructure, adding nearly 200 billion tons of pollution to the air we breathe.
Hard-working Massachusetts taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for these huge corporations to threaten our future and make money off it.
We need to tell U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal to protect our planet, secure our future and use taxpayer dollars responsibly by eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.
etired CPA’S observation of increasing SALT deduction is on target
A recent letter writer Paul J. Rigazio, a retired CPA, got it right. As usual the devious Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi are playing a shell game by complaining that the super rich do not pay their fair share in taxes, while increasing the State And Local Tax deduction. Besides, who doesn’t believe that the super rich and corporations can and do hire CPAS and tax lawyers to pull out every exclusion, exemption, exception, adjustment, credit, deduction or other loophole to reduce their tax liability? These deductions work for Congress themselves, why not for the other rich?