BP vs. Taxpayers

Even though President Obama promised BP will cover 100% of the cost of repairing and cleaning up the Gulf Oil Disaster, the Wall Street Journal reports that BP will force taxpayers to pick up at least $9.9 billion of the bill.

How will this happen? BP is planning to use tax-code provisions that allow companies to get refunds on losses. Since the disaster will cost BP at least $32 billion, they want almost $10 billion dollars from taxpayers -- effectively cutting BP clean-up costs by a third.

This is unacceptable.

The good news is getting BP to drop their claim is a fight we can win. Just this year, public pressure got J.P. Morgan Chase to drop its plan to claim $1.4 billion in tax credits after receiving $25 billion of bailout money. And Goldman Sachs Group agreed not to claim $187 million in tax breaks on the $550 million SEC fine over the Abacus mortgage lawsuit.

We can win with your support. Contribute $20 right now to fuel our aggressive campaign to hold BP accountable.

DFA members haven't been sitting around waiting for BP to get its act together. You've been leading some of the most aggressive campaigns in the country to hold BP accountable. Take a look at some of the work we've done together so far:

• 82,372 people joined our BP Makes Me Sick campaign to make sure clean-up workers were being provided with the protective gear needed to keep from getting ill. Over 50 members of Congress and candidates for office have signed on to add pressure and make it happen. Fuel the campaign to win.

• 48,617 DFA members from across the country joined our Boycott BP campaign, refusing to buy gas from BP stations until the company cleans-up the spill. Our Boycott campaign has received press in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and in over 300 Associated Press stories nationwide. Meanwhile BP has seen a 40% drop in sales in locations across the country. Contribute now to hold BP accountable.

• 47,581 people joined our Stop Big Oil Bailouts campaign to end subsidies and tax breaks to Big Oil companies like BP. With Social Security under attack again as Congress starts looking at ways to lower the deficit, our campaign highlights the high cost to taxpayers of giveaways to corporations who sell dirty fuels. This campaign is just getting started and already Senators Robert Menendez and Bernie Sanders are working to make it happen. Deliver the resources -- Contribute $20 right now.

These campaigns show the White House, Congress and every candidate for office where we stand. BP created the biggest environmental disaster in American history and they want to use taxpayer money to clean it up. Enough is enough -- Stop Big Oil Bailouts. We can make sure BP cleans up the mess they created, provide the protective gear clean-up crews need, and start ending our addiction to Big Oil. But we can't do all of it without your support.

Fuel the fight to hold BP accountable.

You're making a difference. Thank you for everything you do.

-Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America

Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers progressive change on the issues that matter. PleaseContribute Today and support our mission.