One year ago, on April 20, 2010, BP's oil began to pour into the Gulf of Mexico. It did not stop for 87 days.
Today, economic and environmental devastation remain. Thousands of Gulf Coast residents cope with massive health problems from oil and toxic dispersants.
BP, on the other hand, just scored a nearly $10 billion dollar credit on their 2010 federal tax return, by writing off their "losses" incurred from the tragedy.1
That's the equivalent of the entire annual budget of the EPA, whose funding was just slashed in the continuing resolution. It is almost one third of all the cuts in the continuing resolution.
Americans shouldn't have to endure massive budget cuts because BP took a $10 billion tax deduction for destroying our gulf. Tell BP: Amend your tax return and pay your fair share.
Responding to BP's monumental catastrophe cost a massive amount of resources from local, state and federal governments. Now, BP is dealing another massive blow to our nation's tax revenue.
The $10 billion savings comes after BP wrote-off the $32.2 billion it set aside to cover clean-up costs, fines, and a $20 billion victim compensation fund (which has been notoriously slow and stingy in responding to claims, paying out less than 4 billion so far.2)
But BP didn't have to write-off these costs. Last year, Goldman Sachs waived a tax deduction it could have claimed from having to pay $500 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission for giving bad information to mortgage investors.3
BP has cost our nation enough already. It shouldn't be rewarding itself with huge tax savings.
BP's $10 billion tax credit slashes its liability by one third - at every US taxpayer's expense. Tell BP to amend their tax return and pay their fair share.
Over the weekend, hundreds of Gulf Coast residents attended the Powershift conference in Washington, DC and told stories of oil still remaining on beaches, of its smell still permeating the air, of legions of dead dolphin, turtles and fish, of neighbors who are sick or jobless. They said that BP hasn't done nearly enough to make it right.
Meanwhile in Washington, BP just restarted political contributions4 to the Republicans who continue to push for expanded offshore drilling, oppose lifting oil spill liability caps,5 and do everything in their power to keep our nation addicted to dirty crude, as millions of Americans literally drain their paychecks into their gas tanks every day.
To take our nation off of dirty, dangerous, expensive fossil fuels, we must force polluters to pay for the damage they do.
One year ago, BP brought us what would become the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history. We don't owe BP a tax-credit. BP owes us our gulf back. The least it could do is pay its fair share.
Please sign the petition now.
Today, economic and environmental devastation remain. Thousands of Gulf Coast residents cope with massive health problems from oil and toxic dispersants.
BP, on the other hand, just scored a nearly $10 billion dollar credit on their 2010 federal tax return, by writing off their "losses" incurred from the tragedy.1
That's the equivalent of the entire annual budget of the EPA, whose funding was just slashed in the continuing resolution. It is almost one third of all the cuts in the continuing resolution.
Americans shouldn't have to endure massive budget cuts because BP took a $10 billion tax deduction for destroying our gulf. Tell BP: Amend your tax return and pay your fair share.
Responding to BP's monumental catastrophe cost a massive amount of resources from local, state and federal governments. Now, BP is dealing another massive blow to our nation's tax revenue.
The $10 billion savings comes after BP wrote-off the $32.2 billion it set aside to cover clean-up costs, fines, and a $20 billion victim compensation fund (which has been notoriously slow and stingy in responding to claims, paying out less than 4 billion so far.2)
But BP didn't have to write-off these costs. Last year, Goldman Sachs waived a tax deduction it could have claimed from having to pay $500 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission for giving bad information to mortgage investors.3
BP has cost our nation enough already. It shouldn't be rewarding itself with huge tax savings.
BP's $10 billion tax credit slashes its liability by one third - at every US taxpayer's expense. Tell BP to amend their tax return and pay their fair share.
Over the weekend, hundreds of Gulf Coast residents attended the Powershift conference in Washington, DC and told stories of oil still remaining on beaches, of its smell still permeating the air, of legions of dead dolphin, turtles and fish, of neighbors who are sick or jobless. They said that BP hasn't done nearly enough to make it right.
Meanwhile in Washington, BP just restarted political contributions4 to the Republicans who continue to push for expanded offshore drilling, oppose lifting oil spill liability caps,5 and do everything in their power to keep our nation addicted to dirty crude, as millions of Americans literally drain their paychecks into their gas tanks every day.
To take our nation off of dirty, dangerous, expensive fossil fuels, we must force polluters to pay for the damage they do.
One year ago, BP brought us what would become the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history. We don't owe BP a tax-credit. BP owes us our gulf back. The least it could do is pay its fair share.
Please sign the petition now.
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