Warning for Reporters: Donald Trump will be joined in North Dakota by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.The last time Pruitt was in North Dakota, hisspokesperson, Jahan Wilcox, blocked reporters from entering an event and even went so far as to threaten to call the police on those that tried to enter.
Later today, Donald Trump will be giving what has been framed as a tax reform speech at an oil refinery in Mandan, ND, where he’ll be joined by Scott Pruitt, Rick Perry, and Ryan Zinke. But just who is he hoping to reform taxes for? Trump has consistently called for lowering the statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 15% to “help grow businesses-- a massive tax cuts for industries like the one hosting his speech today. Still, Trump neglects to note the billions in subsidies offered to the fossil fuel industry already.
What do Trump’s corporate polluter friends already make in tax benefits? In 2013 alone, the fossil fuel industry reaped $21.6 billion in subsidies according to Oil Change International. That’s on top of the fact that the majority of companies paid well below the corporate tax rate that Trump is claiming they pay today. In fact, Andeavor Corporation (formerly Tesoro), where Trump is speaking today, paid a tax rate of only 10%, far lower than the current rate and even lower than the one being proposed.
Not once has Donald Trump spoken to end the taxpayer-funded subsidies for the fossil fuel industry as a means to save the people money. In fact, every step Trump has taken in office thus far has been to ease the cost of business for the industry at the expense of the American people. So far, Trump has attempted to scrap dozens of environmental rules that would save the American taxpayers billions per year. These rules include:
The Bureau of Land Management’s methane rule, which would save $800 million over the next decade
The Department of the Interior’s valuation rule, which would save $75 million per year
The Department of the Interior’s moratorium on federal coal leasing, which loses $1 billion per year
The billions Donald Trump is saving the fossil fuel industry at the American taxpayers’ expense doesn’t tell the whole story of just how much his actions are costing the public. On top of the subsidies and scrapping of rules, Trump’s actions, or lack thereof, on the climate and environment are causing more pollution to be dumped into communities, sickening more people, which forces them to spend more on health care.
In response, Sierra Club Lands Program Director Athan Manuel released the following statement:
“If Donald Trump cared about the public the way he claims to, he’d end the billions given away to corporate polluters each year and uphold safeguards that protect the public’s health and save taxpayers money.”
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