Raising taxes on oil and gas exploration in the United States is the wrong move if Americans are to break their dependency on foreign energy, a lawmaker said.
U.S. President Barack Obama said during his State of the Union address last month that he was asking members of Congress to eliminate tax benefits to energy companies in an effort to fund the development of a green energy sector.
“Instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s,” the president said.
U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., said that what amounts to an increase in taxes on oil and gas explorers made matters worse for U.S. consumers.
She said raising taxes would mean domestic energy companies would lose an advantage and therefore make the United States more, not less, dependent on foreign energy.
“If we continue to remain dependent on foreign sources of energy, particularly when many of those sources are from unstable parts of the world, we continue to place at risk both our national and economic security,” she said in a statement.
The International Energy Association noted that while unrest in Egypt and parts of North Africa were putting strain on energy markets, energy supplies were in check. Oil prices, the IEA said, have been on a steady rise since late fall.
