In ongoing budget negotiations, GOP members are attempting to insert several tax provisions targeting specific industries, according to the Sacramento Bee. Among them are rules that would allow oil companies to lessen their tax burden by including various financial activities, such as hedging investments, in their tax calculations.
Contributions data from multinational oil companies interests show that they have been equally kind to Republicans. In the California State Senate, this interest group has given just under twice as much on average to Republicans than they have to Democrats over the last four years (7/1/2006 to 6/30/2010). The picture is more pronounced in the Assembly, where these large oil companies gave nearly three times as much on average to Republicans as Democrats in the last election cycle (1/1/2009 to 6/30/2010).
Chevron, based in San Ramon, CA, the largest donor among oil companies to California legislators, was specifically cited in the article as a potential beneficiary of the provisions Republicans are proposing. Their contributions (included in the calculations above) are in keeping with the same pattern. Republican Senators in California have received an average of 24% more from Chevron than Democrats, and in the Assembly, Republicans received twice as much from Chevron compared to Democrats.
Contributions data provided by the National Institute on Money in State Politics (FollowTheMoney.org). Includes reported contributions to campaigns of Senators and Assembly members, from Major (multinational) oil & gas producers interest groups, July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2010 for Senators and July 1, 2008-June 30, 2010 for Assembly members.
