Oil Firms No Longer Need Tax Breaks, but Renewable Energy Does

An editorial from the Orlando Sentinel states the obvious: renewable energy, a budding industry, now needs tax breaks to jump start it. The oil industry, an established industry and which brings home gigantic profits for their shareholders, do not need tax breaks any longer. Therefore, take some of the tax breaks away from the oil industry to help the renewable energy industry get off the ground. It really is that simple. I'll let some of the editorial highlight some of the nitty gritty:

"But with oil company profits and the price of crude at all-time highs, a strong case also can be made to rescind tax breaks for the industry to finance the extension on breaks for renewable energy. That's what the House did in February, voting to take back $18 billion in tax breaks over a decade, or $1.8 billion a year, from the five largest publicly traded oil companies. The annual figure is less than 2 percent of the $123 billion in profits that those companies banked last year."

Wow.