Via Climate Change: Poll: 59% Of Americans Support Repealing Fossil-Energy Subsidies To Reduce Deficit

Reducing America’s debt will require a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. And a majority of Americans agree: According to a new ABC News/Washington Post Poll, 62% of Americans believe that reducing the deficit cannot be solved with a one-policy strategy.

The poll also shows that reducing tax incentives for the legacy oil and gas industries is one of the top-five most popular options for helping reduce the deficit, with 59% of Americans saying they supported the option.

Eliminating certain tax subsidies for the mature oil and gas industries could bring in about $45 billion over the next ten years. By comparison, the top five oil companies brought in over $76 billion in profits in 2010 alone.
In response to the calls for reducing oil and gas tax subsidies to help close the budget gap, the American Energy Alliance funded a study showing that such a move would have a net-negative budget impact of $53 billion.

However, the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, and the Congressional Research Service all separately found that the move would bring in billions of dollars in revenue.