Lies & Distortions: The Democrat Way

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), a far left-wing radical political advocacy group, recently kicked off a smear campaign against Dr. Dan with the usual distortions of the facts. These environmental activists would have us believe that Dr. Dan is handing out “billions in special tax breaks” to help big oil “profit off Michigan families twice: once at the pump and again from their federal taxes.”

As Michigan families struggle to pay thousands of dollars in taxes, Congressman Benishek is voting to hand out billions in special tax breaks to the nation’s most profitable oil companies,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “He may claim that oil companies pay their fair share, but there’s nothing fair about his votes to allow oil companies to profit off Michigan families twice: once at the pump and again from their federal taxes.”

Despite these false claims by the LCV, here are the facts:

#1 Dr. Dan has repeatedly argued for comprehensive tax reform and favors an end to all subsidies, credits, and loopholes that favor one energy source over another.

#2 The Congressman makes no apology for stating the facts: the petroleum industry has already paid $35.7 billion in taxes.

#3 Oil and Natural Gas Companies ARE NOT SUBSIDIZED. These companies get business tax deductions that most other industries receive. There simply is not one tax credit provision (direct government spending to the oil and natural gas industry) in the tax code. We challenge anyone to show us where in the tax code such a provision exists.

We’d like to hear from the LCV about the Solyndra scandal; $535 million dollars stolen from the taxpayers for a boondoggle that benefits a huge Obama donor that has now gone bankrupt. Where is the outrage over the theft of that money from those Michigan taxpayers the LCV says it is so concerned about? We certainly didn’t see it mentioned in the attack ad against Dr. Dan.

Showing its partisan colors, the League of Conservation Voters has nothing to say about any of these scandals, proving they are nothing more than a left-wing environmental activism front group opposed to any sensible balance between economic development and environmental protection.