Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, has introduced a bill that would reimpose taxes on the petroleum and chemical industries. The taxes, which were dedicated to the Superfund Trust Fund, expired in 1995. Base oil suppliers would pass through the taxes in their sales to independent lubricant manufacturers.
As we have discussed in recent issues of FlashPoint, the Superfund Trust Fund is expected to run out of money within two years. Although monies for environmental clean-ups have been funded from the general treasury in recent years, the problem of what to do with the Trust Fund remains unsolved. Rep. Pallone’s bill would reinstate the 9.7 cents-per-barrel tax on petroleum, a corporate environmental income tax of 0.12 percent of taxable income in excess of $2 million, and a tax on 42 different chemicals.
The bill has 11 co-sponsors. However, there is no measurable GOP support for the proposal, and President Bush has stated that he does not support reimposition of the Superfund taxes.
