Tax Policy: Additional Petroleum Production Tax Incentives Are of Questionable Merit
GGD-90-75
Published: Jul 23, 1990. Publicly Released: Jul 23, 1990.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the effects of additional tax incentives for the petroleum production industry.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Before approving additional tax incentives for petroleum investments, Congress should weigh carefully their costs and benefits. Given the expected federal revenue losses, providing additional tax incentives is not the most effective method of providing significant increases in U.S. energy security. In addition, where the incentives benefit types of activities and classes of producers that are already relatively favored by the tax code, they will tend to encourage relatively inefficient investments. | Congress passed a number of the provisions into law despite GAO reservations. |
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Fuel suppliesEnergy securityFuture budget projectionsInvestments abroadMicroeconomic analysisOil resourcesPetroleum industryPetroleum pricesSubsidiesTax creditTax law