On the recordJanuary 21, 2015
this amendment closes a tax loophole that currently places Canadian tar sands oil ahead of the American taxpayer. While oil produced here in the United States, in places such as North Dakota and Texas, pays into a cleanup fund for oil spills, tar sands does not. The bottom line here is simple--when Canadian tar sands oil is spilled on American soil, the American taxpayer pays up. In effect, it is possible to state what this is all about in straight forward English: right now, our Tax Code is so out of date that it says that oil from the tar sands isn't actually oil. Put your arms around that for a second. The Tax Code is in a time warp. Under the current policy, what concerns me is a judgment that oil from the tar sands isn't actually oil. All other crude oil product refiners have to pay an 8-cent-per-barrel tax to support the oilspill liability trust fund that pays for cleaning up the spills. This puts our own domestic producers at a competitive disadvantage. I see my colleague from Colorado who cares greatly about these issues.…
