Congressional Plan to Remove Depletion Deduction

I received this notice from ROPE recently:

WARNING: Congress wants your royalty income!

It’s official. On February 26, U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means unveiled his plan to grab 15 percent of your royalty income and cut the economic value of your oil and gas minerals. Camp plans to do this by repealing your ability to calculate mineral depreciation though percentage depletion. Small, domestic oil and gas producers will be hit hard too. They won’t be able to afford to develop your minerals. That means fewer royalty checks and less money for you. In a blow to the economy and U.S. energy security, almost 20 percent of total U.S. oil and gas resources could be shut in and lost forever.
 
This tax increase will harm millions of royalty owners nationwide, kill good-paying U.S. jobs, undermine America’s manufacturing rebirth, and make your children and grandchildren more vulnerable to foreign oil powers.
 
Pick up the phone today and tell your U.S. Representative to block this proposed tax increase and to fight for your ability to use percentage depletion because royalty owners like you are critical to America’s energy security.
 
SCRIPT: “I am one of millions of Americans who receive oil and gas royalty income. Chairman Camp’s plan would raise my taxes by 15 percent and make my private minerals uneconomic to develop. If you do not vocally oppose this measure, I will assume you are for it, tell my friends and neighbors, and act accordingly in the voting booth.”
 

Here are the phone numbers for Chairman Camp and key Republicans who serve with him at the Ways and Means Committee. Tell them the Camp plan is bad for royalty owners and America's energy security. 
 
U.S. Rep. Dave Camp (MI): 202-225-3561  
U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany (LA): 337-235-6322
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (TX): 936-439-9532
U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin (AR): 501-324-5941
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (KS): 785-234-5966
U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson (TX): 469-304-0382
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (PA): 724-282-2557
U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant (TX): 972-556-0162
U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes (CA): 559-323-5235
U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (NY): 607-654-7566
U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi (OH): 614-523-2555

 

Royalty Owners & Producers
Educational Coalition

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Martinelli on February 28, 2014 at 5:24am

no depletion, higher severance,,,,,,where will it end?

 

Govt. see a new money stream and they want take more than their share...aren't the high income tax rates enough?

Permalink Reply by Olive Sue on February 28, 2014 at 7:43am

How must other nations view our democracy and yet we still have the best.

Permalink Reply by jason smith on February 28, 2014 at 6:05pm
Who cares how other nations view our democracy.
Permalink Reply by Al Cramblett on March 1, 2014 at 4:02am

Dennis, I received an email from NARO also but posted the ROPE article as it contained more detail  than did the NARO comment.

Permalink Reply by Ronald L. Rohr Jr. on February 28, 2014 at 11:46am

i just called my rep in ohio US Rep. Pat Tiberi Ohio to express my concern over the Camp plan hope the rest of you will do the same thank you Ron Rohr.

Permalink Reply by Mary on March 1, 2014 at 12:36am
Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on March 1, 2014 at 2:15am

For anyone not following this, here is some perspective:

Dave Camp deserves credit for coming out with the first detailed, comprehensive, tax reform package in a long time!  While everyone else down there has been sitting on their hands, almost literally, Chairman Camp did the job for which we are paying him!!!  His proposed legislation cuts virtually all existing special-interest tax law giveaways to create a path to lower tax rates for everyone.

However, the following is also true:

House leadership wants no part whatsoever of Camp's proposal.  They are almost literally running in the other direction!!  And Dave Camp is finished as Chairman at the end of this term.  House committee Chairmen are term limited to six years.  Camp is finishing up and cannot be Chairman again.

Bottom line, Camp's proposal is already dead and buried on arrival.  Chairman Camp has no support whatsoever for any of his (considerable) work.  This thing was totally over before it ever started.  Camp's announcement was a still birth.

Permalink Reply by Al Cramblett on March 1, 2014 at 4:55am

Frank,

Thanks for your perspective. Your comment caused me to go look at the draft tax Reform Act of 2014 which is 979 pages long. Obviously, I did not read the entire 979 pages, but did scan sections that were of interest to me. I will also agree with you that Chairman Champ should be commended for his work. It's a great initiative! That said, I also believe that it is in the best interests of the US to retain investment incentives for oil and gas drilling programs which tends to keep the dollars in country. Otherwise, major offshore conglomerates such as BP, TOTAL, etc. will invest the dollars and export the profits.

Permalink Reply by Bluflame on March 2, 2014 at 8:45am

Frank,

  I agree. Camp's bill doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of becoming enacted. Regardless of merit, this is strictly a political issue that neither party is willing to address in an election year. But kudos to Rep. Camp for diving into the detail of tax reform, regardless of political consequences including upsetting landowners like us.

BluFlame

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on March 11, 2014 at 10:04am

Exactly.  I mean, what the heck:

I want my NG royalties tax break too, just like any other landowner.  The only way I would agree to giving it up is if ALL tax preferences for ALL other special interests are also cancelled at the same time.  At that point I get the money back owing to reduced tax rates across the board.  Reduced across-the-board tax rates are best for America, too.  That's what President Reagan did almost thirty years ago.  Course it took a Reagan to get that done.  Today we don't have anybody even remotely close to President Ronald Reagan.  Camp tried hard and that's to his credit.  But Camp is no Reagan.  The establishment just blew him off like dirt. 

Permalink Reply by Bluflame on March 16, 2014 at 3:53am

I would add to your comments that the elimination of preferences would need to be accompanied by a serious reduction in tax rates across the board. The depletion allowance is important, but not as important as mortgage interest and local tax deductions. I don't expect any of that occur in my lifetime.

BluFlame

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on March 12, 2014 at 7:46am

If they spent say only 20% of their time as legislators trying to save the tax payers money instead of  50% campaigning and  50% dreaming of new taxes we could reduce taxes!

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