Ryan Backs Cutting Tax Benefits for Oil Companies

Talk about slashing tax benefits for oil companies has hit a fevered pitch on Capitol Hill. And House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is expressing support for that view, The Hill reports.

“The House-passed fiscal year 2012 budget resolution clearly states that as part of an overall corporate tax reform, tax loopholes and deductions for all corporations should be scaled back or eliminated entirely. That obviously includes oil companies,” Ryan spokesman Conor Sweeney told the news service.

That budget, drafted by Ryan, also advocates dumping tax breaks for clean energy technologies and increasing domestic oil and gas production, Sweeney points out.

Some other Republicans have expressed reluctance to trim the tax breaks for oil companies. House Speaker John Boehner initially voiced support for the idea and then pulled back.