It’s Time For Big Oil to Do Its Part for California

By Marlene Allen
LA County GAIN Services Supervisor

This article appeared on July 27 at the California Progress Report, an online journal of issues facing our state.

Last week I joined hundreds of other Californians — college students, school employees, social workers and other community members in a march to Occidental Petroleum’s offices in Los Angeles. We carried a simple message: closing a $1.2 billion tax loophole that giant oil companies take advantage of each year could save our schools and vital social services from deeper cuts.

Click here to see pictures from the march.

Rebuilding California requires everyone to do their part, and working families have already sacrificed so much in this economic recession. Now it’s time for Big Oil to do its share. We’re calling on California leaders to close the oil pumping loophole.

Out of 22 major oil producing states in the United States, California is the only one that has a loophole allowing oil companies to extract oil tax-free. Closing that loophole could raise $1.2 billion to saves jobs and vital services that Californians and their families rely on. 

As a social service provider for the County of Los Angeles, I help families get back on their feet with training and temporary employment. Lately I’ve seen a lot of people in my office who say, “I never expected to be here.” They never expected to lose their jobs and not be able to get another one. Now even these services are at risk of being cut.

Along with many of the hundreds of marchers, I taped a note to Occidental’s front door, explaining what will happen to the people I serve if our Legislature and the Governor chose to give away our tax dollars to companies like Occidental whose CEO made nearly $150 million last year.  Closing the loophole means funding schools, services for the elderly and people with disabilities.

We all want to Rebuild California so we can strengthen our schools, colleges and healthcare and build a better life for our kids. That can only be done by investing in our economic recovery, saving vital services and jobs — we can’t keep giving away billions each year to big oil companies and other corporations.

Oil companies like Occidental have abused California’s broken budget system and squeezed California’s taxpayers for giveaways for too long.

People who say California doesn’t have a choice but to cut funding for schools, seniors, child care and healthcare are flat-out wrong. Our state elected leaders have a clear choice: whether to help ordinary Californians or keep giving away our tax dollars to Big Oil and other corporations.

It’s time for Big Oil to do its part for California.

To learn more about rebuilding California and sign a petition to support a budget that protects services and asks major corporations to do their part, visit our new website www.letsrebuildca.org.