We are subsidizing fossil fuels, $1,000 per person!
Submitted by MarilynW on Fri, 08/07/2015 - 11:50am
G20 countries pay over $1,000 per citizen in fossil fuel subsidies, says IMF
World’s leading economies still paying trillions in subsidies despite pledges to phase them out, new figures show
New figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that the US, which hosted the G20 summit in 2009, gives $700bn a year in fossil fuel subsidies, equivalent to $2,180 for every American. President Barack Obama backed the phase out but has since overseen a steep rise in federal fossil fuel subsidies.
Image if that money were instead being channelled into prevention of child abuse, prevention of human trafficking, endangered species protection, restoration of forests, name-your-own-important-issue?
Comments
This is insane. The fossil fuel industry has been wildly
successful. How many oil billionaires are there? The first thing we should put those subsidies into is renewable fuels. We could be the world tech leader on renewables if we would stop fighting it. It seems like the people will probably build their own windmills and install their own solar panels before governments finally get with the program. Once the infrastructure is in place, then renewable fuel companies won't even need government subsidies. Then we can spend on other important programs. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Marilyn.
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
There's also Oil Depletion Allowance
Oil companies get a tax break based on this formula.
"The principle is that the asset is a capital investment that is a wasting asset, and therefore depreciation can reasonably be offset (effectively as a capital loss) against income." How about that, selling = wasting?
To thine own self be true.
are you suggesting
that the US should just get rid of the subsidy?
Surely, the result would be a price increase for lower-income people who commute to work
Don't fight the stream - Tyr Anasazi
US get rid of the subsidy?
The story is about the G20 countries not just the USA. Of course governments should not in anyway subsidize or give tax breaks to fossil fuel industries. Those subsides are not what controls the price of gas at the pump.
And cities should improve mass transit with high speed rail as an example to keep more cars off the road. That's where government subsidies should be going - to high speed rail.
To thine own self be true.
If the issue is cost to the poor
Subsidizing the corporations is the not the answer. If the poor need help paying for gas, that subsidy should go directly to them, not the petroleum extraction corporations.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
There's an initiative in CA
This is a good start
Electric car-sharing for low income residents of LA.
http://sharedusemobilitycenter.org/news/sumc-to-help-lead-1-6-million-lo...
To thine own self be true.