By Clara Bates
The Santa Fe New Mexican
(TNS)
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich filed legislation Friday that would repeal tax breaks for oil and gas companies to drill overseas—which he says are outdated and currently create incentives for oil and gas companies to go abroad.
Major oil and gas companies have their U.S. tax obligations reduced for overseas oil and gas production, Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, said in a statement Friday.
The American Energy Independence and Tax Fairness Act would “ensure the tax code no longer rewards companies for investing abroad instead of here at home,” while also “strengthening American energy security and requiring some of the world’s most profitable corporations to pay their fair share,” the statement says.
Heinrich is the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“Oil majors shouldn’t get a tax break for going overseas to produce energy, but that’s essentially what our current tax policy does,” Heinrich said.
The bill would make the following changes:
- Treat overseas fossil fuel profits like other foreign business income in the U.S. tax code.
- Stop allowing companies to generate additional foreign tax credits from shale oil and tar sands development.
- Change foreign tax credit rules to “prevent oil and gas companies from misclassifying payments to foreign governments as taxes rather than royalties in order to reduce their U.S. tax liability.”
The bill, Heinrich said, “will help put American energy development on an even playing field with energy development that’s happening in the Middle East or anywhere else.”
The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition late last year said in a report between 2017 and 2025, major U.S. oil and gas companies paid far more abroad in taxes than domestically, owing $135 billion in foreign taxes and $29 billion in the U.S.
Photo credit: Sen. Martin Heinrich (heinrich.senate.gov)
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© 2026 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.). Visit www.santafenewmexican.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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