{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr6658-115/featured_offending-oil-polluters-act-1539790386.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr6658-115/featured_large_offending-oil-polluters-act-1539790386.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr6658-115.png"},"introduced_on":"2018-08-07","title_override":"Should Oil Companies Be Prohibited From Getting Tax Deductions for Spill Settlements?","summary_override":"

This bill — known as the Offending Oil Polluters Act — would amend the Internal Revenue Code to deny certain tax credits or deductions related to business expenses for settlements, legal fees, penalties, or restitution paid by an “offending oil polluter”. Offending oil polluter would be defined as any person or corporation responsible for a vessel or facility from which oil or a hazardous substance is discharged, as well as any person who is a member of the same expanded affiliated group as the offending oil polluter.

Specifically, it would deny deductions or credits for:

Amounts paid or incurred in connection with a discharge of oil or a hazardous substance;
Attorney fees and court costs in connection with legal actions involving such discharge;
As payment or restitution for oil or hazardous substance discharge; and
Costs or penalties certified in a settlement by a federal court, or required by federal law or regulations.

The Treasury Dept. would be required to report to Congress on: 1) the revenue loss as a result of tax deductions allowed for cleaning up oil discharged after April 19, 2010, and 2) the amount of revenue savings resulting from this bill.

","official_title":"To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to deny certain tax benefits to persons responsible for the discharge of oil or other hazardous substances into navigable waters of the United States.","short_title":"Offending Oil Polluters Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Offending Oil Polluters Act\n\nThis bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny certain tax credits or deductions to an offending oil polluter. The bill defines \"offending oil polluter\" as any person who is responsible for a vessel or facility from which oil or a hazardous substance is discharged and any person who is a member of the same expanded affiliated group as the offending oil polluter.\n\nSpecifically, the bill denies a deduction or a credit for any amount paid or incurred:\n\n in connection with a discharge of oil or a hazardous substance, for attorney fees and court costs in connection with any legal action involving such discharge, as a payment or restitution related to such discharge, and for costs or penalties certified in a settlement by a federal court or required by federal law or regulations. The Department of the Treasury must report to Congress regarding: (1) the revenue loss as a result of tax deductions allowed for cleaning up oil that is discharged after April 19, 201...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Oil companies; polluters; Treasury Department; and the Internal Revenue Code.","argument_for":"Corporations shouldn’t be allowed to pass the costs of environmental disasters on to taxpayers by deducting such costs from their tax bills. Taxpayers already pay much of the cost to clean up oil spills — they shouldn’t pay again by subsidizing corporate taxes for companies responsible for these environmental disasters.","argument_against":"The IRS and agencies that settle with companies already have the authority to determine what is and isn’t tax-deductible in settlements, so there’s no need for this legislation. 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Should Oil Companies Be Prohibited From Getting Tax Deductions for Spill Settlements?