WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Republican Senators blocked a proposal that would have blocked the biggest U.S. oil companies from taking a popular domestic manufacturing tax deduction.
Democrats, on a 56-42 vote, fell four votes short of the 60 they needed to end debate on the measure, offered as a way to pay for other spending and relax an Internal Revenue Service reporting mandate in the new healthcare law, Fuelfix.com reported Tuesday.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., involved the domestic manufacturing tax deduction that allows a variety of companies to deduct qualified domestic production activities. For oil companies, the deduction could mean up to 6 percent of income from oil and gas production.
Nelson's plan would have barred major integrated oil companies from taking the deduction, Fuelfix.com said.
"The last thing we should be doing is transferring public tax dollars to the pockets of BP and other major oil producers that continue to rake in exorbitant profits because of high prices at the pump," Nelson said.
Oil and gas industry advocates argued that the plan unfairly singled them out.
Stephen Comstock, the American Petroleum Institute's tax manager, praised the Senate vote to block what he called a "shortsighted amendment."
"Had it passed, the provision would have raised taxes and killed jobs -- something the nation cannot afford, especially when so many Americans are out of work," Comstock said in a statement.
