Guys, Clues Are In Aisle 5

McClatchy says that Gulf lawmakers push tax breaks for businesses hurt by spill

BILOXI, Miss. — U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker said he and five other Gulf Coast lawmakers are continuing to push for several tax incentives for victims of the oil gusher.

Wicker is leading the effort with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and they’re joined by Mississippi Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and other Gulf Coast lawmakers in backing legislation for businesses and victims of the spill.

Their proposal extends the “net operating loss carryback” period to five years for business losses caused by the gusher.

The plan would allow owners of fishing and other tourism-related ventures to amend their tax returns from the past five years, and to receive a refund for some taxes already paid.

It would also give tax credits to businesses that hire Gulf Coast workers displaced by the spill, and put in place a temporary program to reimburse states for revenue losses if they adopt a hotel- or car-rental-tax holiday, among other provisions.

Wicker said Thursday he was optimistic about the bill’s prospects, and he and other lawmakers are beginning a hard push to get it passed.

OK, Roger, and how do you get support from the “deficit hawks”, the guys so principled that they can’t vote for anything that isn’t paid for? Oh, it’s a tax cut, so I guess those are exempt from principles… except this is going to cost almost nothing.

Go back five years to 2005 which should ring a bell for people on the Gulf Coast. Do Cindy, Dennis, Katrina, and Rita ring any bells? Do you think that anyone who is being impacted by this oil made any money in 2005? The oil is bad because people had just started to finally dig out from 2005 when the GOPression hit, and now oil.

Taxes are paid on profits, not on gross. The majority of people injured by the oil have small businesses, and don’t make profits large enough to really worry about taxes. When you’re paying off a large fishing vessel, your Federal taxes are at noise level. When the price of fuel shot up, your profit disappeared. Taxes may be a concern for large corporations, but on the small business level they really are minimal.  The accounting fees for the amended returns would probably cost more than they’ll get back.

This is the part I really love: “give tax credits to businesses that hire Gulf Coast workers displaced by the spill”. Are you really proposing to give BP a tax credit for hiring the people it screwed? You must be, because they are the largest current employer of displaced workers.