Oil Companies, Including Transocean, Reap Big Tax Breaks

Oil companies like BP and Transocean, the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, reap about $4 billion a year in tax breaks by taking advantage of provisions in U.S. laws "available at virtually every stage of the exploration and extraction process," according to the New York Times.

Transocean has been ably to significantly reduce its taxes by moving its headquarters from Houston to the Cayman Islands in 1999 and then to Switzerland two years ago. It also reduced the taxes it paid by registering the Deepwater Horizon under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

BP realized big tax benefits by using a break that allowed it to deduct 70 percent of the rent it paid to Transocean for the use of Deepwater Horizon, according to the story.

The Times said the oil ndustry is lining up to oppose a proposal under consideration by federal officials to impose a new tax on it to help pay for the Gulf clean-up. Read the full article in politicsdaily