Oil subsidies may sound like a conspiracy theory far removed from your life, but the very real and vast funding that taxpayers pay to prop up the oil industry really is coming from your wallet. Billions of dollars each year are given to the very same companies that are largely responsible for climate change.
How Big Oil is Subsidized
Oil subsidies are tax breaks for oil companies. Many of these subsidies were established in the early twentieth century to attract investment when oil was considered a high-risk business due to the limited technology available to find oil reservoirs. You could strike it rich if you hit oil, or you could come up empty-handed. Since a country’s economic and political standing were interconnected with domestic fossil fuel production, the government could not afford to let the risky odds scare investors away. Promising to cover some of the costs was the best way to ensure investors would…
