U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
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Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
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30%
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(D) George Stern
(D) A. Gonzalez
(R) Sheri Davis
40%
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State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
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CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
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40%
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
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(R) Jeff Crank*
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CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
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CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
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CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
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40%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
August 09, 2012 11:39 PM UTC
25 Comments
Only a liberal Democrat could believe that windmills and birth control will decide the 2012 elections. Pols is stunningly out of touch as usual.
I asked the question a couple years ago in a diary — when was the last time you voted for someone you didn’t like?
Well, Politico’s Roger Simon wonders the same thing:
Maybe Mitt ought to work on that little Trust and Believability thing that bothers a lot of folks.
If nothing else, he should try a little harder when he’s faking it.
Which is that this election will be about Obama and not the royal ‘We’ our nominee (presumed). Not about our handsome frat boy privileged scion and American pioneer of outsourcing (jobs) and offshoring (profits). It is time to ‘Believe in America’ (except insofar as to actually invest in America, when it saves a buck or two to stick it in a foreign bank…) and not get distracted about the particulars of the economic vision of our (presumed) nominee–because its all about the economy!!! And NOT Mitt’s approach to the economy nor about women nor what Mitt might do to any particular group of actual breathing Americans, because that’s ‘identity’ politics. Mitt’s for ‘real’ Americans not ‘hyphenated-‘ Americans with their paychecks and government police, fire fighting, teacher and other handout jobs. Real Americans like NASCAR Team Owners and the Dressage crowd. That’s what this election will be about.
you mean all those silly folks who wear those awful yellow rain parkas? . . .
. . . er, wait, you said “NASCAR owners” — OK then, they don’t need those hideous yellow things to stay dry inside their tax-deductible corporate sky boxes . . .
. . . never mind.
Republicans seem to believe that birth control and the evils of renewable energy will decide the 2012 elections, so I guess it’s up to Democrats to help them push that point home…
You guys keep the flood of oil money coming to my campaign and the super PACs, and I’ll keep the tidal wave of taxpayer money coming your way.
Wind guys? You don’t give me diddly, so I’m not gonna give you squat.
Fair’s fair!
I must say I don’t consider the depletion allowance a subsidy, any more than the depreciation allowance on items used in business, such as the presses at the Denver Post, is a subsidy.
Serious question. I don’t know what depletion allowance is. Could you give me a quick explanation? (I’ll look it up in the meantime but experience tells me I won’t get an answer in under 5,000 words.)
If I spend $1m acquiring rights to drill for oil at an oil well and in a given year I extract 15% of the total estimated reserves of the well, then I can deduct $150,000 from my taxable income for the year. Over time, I can write down the entire capital investment. It’s essentially depreciating the value of a mineral lease over time.
There’s far more money given away to companies in extra-low mineral rights fees than in this depreciation, I’m guessing.
There’s only so much oil in the ground, just like there is only so much life in your computer. So the Oil companies get to write off a percentage of the “depleted” resource.
Net/net — they don’t pay taxes on the depleted amount, so the revenue has to come out of somebody else’s pocket (two guesses — the individuals that don’t have lobbyists).
A subsidy is a subsidy — including the home mortgage credit. All a matter of who’s ox gets gored.
a subsidy is a subsidy.
There’s a huge gap in the Ryan budget that’s labeled simply, “closing tax loopholes”. The price tag of that category is huge; in fact, it’s so huge that the only tax credits that come close to that size are the EITC and home mortgage credits.
Which has given Obama an avenue of attack that Romney (and Ryan) will be raising your taxes, unless you make over $200,000 per year. The tax rate might be lower, but you’ll be paying more because these credits will have to be reduced or eliminated to balance their budget.
Here’s a report (PDF) from Taxpayers for Common Sense
And good for almost $4.4 billion between 2011-15. That ain’t small potatoes.
What do you suppose are “intangible drilling costs?”
such as survey costs. Under general tax principles, such costs would be capitalized, and then either recovered over time as an amortizible expense or as a reduction in the amount realized in a sale.
The oil and gas industry is advantaged because IDCs can be deducted immediately, thus giving an immediate tax benefit.
This is indeed a subsidy the President has proposed to eliminate. Valuable info on all of them.
one is through writing off losses for developing “unconventional” energy resources…like shale gas. Sold at a loss, it can be recouped in the tax credit equation.
Additionally, in Colorado only, companies are allowed to deduct their property taxes from their severance tax obligation. They effectively pay about 1.7%.
Also, companies who own and manage stripper wells (wells that are approaching the end of their productive lives)are given additional taxbreaks as well.
There are many ways,the details of which I am generally ignorant, but I know they exist.
depreciation is a cost recovery mechanism limited to basis–i.e., the cost of acquiring an asset. Depletion, on the other hand, can exceed basis, thus providing for deductions in excess of the economic investment in the producing property.
to the amount of capital invested in acquiring the rights?
Percentage depletion goes on and on.