If they want to 'SAVE MONEY' start here!
U.S. Quadruples Pipeline Tax Break Cost to $7 Billion
By Zachary R. Mider & Richard Rubin - Feb 21, 2013 12:01 AM ET ..
A tax break used by oil and gas pipeline companies such as Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) will cost the U.S. government $7 billion through 2016, about four times more than previously estimated, Congress’s tax scorekeepers said this month.
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation quadrupled its cost estimate for exempting the fast-growing “master limited partnerships” from corporate income tax in the year ended in September to $1.2 billion from $300 million. The annual cost will rise to $1.6 billion by fiscal 2016, the committee said.
The revision reflects the growth of tax-free publicly traded partnerships. They have taken over the U.S. pipeline business and are expanding into the rest of the oil and gas industry, partly by gobbling up dozens of tax-paying companies. With President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans calling for a tax overhaul, the higher cost estimate may make it harder for industry to protect the MLP subsidy, said John Buckley, a tax professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
“A bigger number always means it’s a bigger target,” said Buckley, who as a Democratic congressional aide helped draft the 1987 law that included the partnership exemption.
Canada ended a similar break in 2011, saving an estimated $500 million a year.
more@Bloomberg.com
| 
