Biden’s Energy Tax Hikes Threaten Jobs and Increase Household Energy Bills

August 13, 2021

President Biden continues to push his Build Back Better agenda promising more quality and high-paying manufacturing jobs. Yet, he continues to push policies that will destroy existing high-paying manufacturing jobs in the oil and gas industry.

Biden has already enacted orders like the cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline his first day in office that harm these jobs. Now, with his $3.5 trillion spending plan, he wants to raise taxes on American oil and gas businesses by repealing important tax provisions that help these businesses invest and create jobs. These tax provisions promote manufacturing jobs and American energy independence.

In his plan, he is pushing 30 tax increases totaling $3 trillion over the next decade, including roughly a dozen tax increases on oil and gas taxpayers.

The Hill reports on the impacts these will have:

Of course, the negative impact of these tax increases will fall on American workers and families. Oil and gas businesses collectively support nearly 11 million high-paying manufacturing jobs, including nearly 2 million in Texas.

In 2017, these jobs paid an average salary of $102,000, 85 percent higher than the average private sector salary.

This tax hike will also increase energy costs, which will fall disproportionately on low-income Americans.  

Studies have shown that low-income households pay a significantly higher share of their income on energy costs. On average these households spend 7.2 percent of their income on utility bills, compared to higher-income households, which spend 2.3 percent of their income on utility bills.

These increased costs would slug Americans at a time when energy prices, and the cost of goods and services in general, have already increased significantly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, gasoline prices have increased by 56 percent between May 2020 and May 2021, while consumer prices collectively have risen 5 percent.

Biden’s plan will raise taxes on American energy and threaten high-paying manufacturing jobs. When just two days ago Biden asked OPEC members to increase oil production to offset the shortages and higher energy prices our country is currently facing. In summary, Biden wants American citizens to bear the brunt of these eco-left policies as we turn to petro-dictators with higher-emitting sources of energy to fill the gaps he has created with ill-informed policies.