John,
Amidst Donald Trump’s war on Iran, U.S. families are paying nearly 90 cents more per gallon of gas than they were one year ago, and higher fuel costs threaten to raise the price of groceries and other necessities.
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil and Chevron are expected to report second-quarter earnings that are more than triple their first-quarter levels, helping drive oil-industry profits to their highest point since 2022. Analysts also expect corporations to accelerate stock buybacks during the second half of this year.
These companies were already swimming in money. According to Americans for Tax Fairness research, the 10 largest American oil and gas corporations made $677 billion in pre-tax profits between 2021 and 2025.1 They spent $452 billion on stock buybacks and dividends and another $2.75 billion compensating their top executives. Several paid effective federal income tax rates that were in the single digits or below zero.
The federal tax code continues to reward them with billions of dollars in special subsidies. Oil and gas corporations can claim deductions and credits for drilling expenses, depleted wells, enhanced oil recovery, and other costs that ordinary taxpayers are forced to help underwrite.
The End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act, H.R. 383, would eliminate nearly a dozen of these giveaways. It would repeal some of the oil industry’s most valuable tax preferences, stop major oil corporations from exploiting special accounting rules, and require a massively profitable industry to pay a fairer share toward the country that makes its profits possible.
Click here to send a message to your representative urging them to pass the End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act and end taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil’s war profiteering.
The House has allowed H.R. 383 to sit in the Ways and Means Committee since January 2025. During that delay, Big Oil has continued collecting subsidies, rewarding wealthy shareholders, and profiting from the higher prices produced by Trump’s Iran war.
Together, we’re demanding a tax system that puts the American people first, not Big Oil profiteers.
John Foti
Legislative Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
1 Trump’s Proposed Gas Tax Suspension Comes as Big Oil Makes Billions in Profit
-- David's email --
John,
Yesterday, the national average price of gasoline climbed back to $4 a gallon as renewed attacks between the United States and Iran drove oil prices higher. That is up from $3.14 a gallon one year ago. Families are paying more to commute, get their children to school, and buy goods transported by truck while Big Oil prepares to cash in on the chaos.1
ExxonMobil and Chevron are expected to report second-quarter earnings that are more than triple their first-quarter levels. Industry profits are projected to reach their highest point since 2022, fueled by higher oil prices, tight fuel supplies, and some of the strongest refining margins in years. Analysts already expect oil companies to accelerate stock buybacks during the second half of 2026.2
Big Oil entered this crisis after an extraordinary five-year profit spree. The 10 largest American oil and gas corporations collected $677 billion in pre-tax profits from 2021 through 2025. They poured $452 billion into stock buybacks and dividends for wealthy shareholders and another $2.75 billion into compensation for just their 5 highest-paid executives at each company. Six of the 8 corporations with available 2025 tax data paid single-digit or negative effective federal income tax rates.3
Congress has a bill ready to end this taxpayer-funded racket. The End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act, H.R. 383, would eliminate nearly a dozen of the industry’s most egregious tax breaks. Yet House leaders have allowed the legislation to sit in the Ways and Means Committee since January 2025 while oil executives collect war profits and families pay higher prices.4, 5
Tell your representative to pass the End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act and stop forcing taxpayers to subsidize Big Oil’s war profiteering.
Big Oil has built a business model where the public absorbs the risks and wealthy shareholders collect the rewards. War disrupts energy markets, families get hammered at the gas pump, and oil corporations use the resulting windfall to drive up their stock prices and enrich executives. The federal tax code then hands those same companies another advantage.
H.R. 383 would repeal tax breaks covering intangible drilling costs, percentage depletion, marginal oil and gas wells, enhanced oil recovery, and other special preferences written into the tax code for the fossil fuel industry. It would also prohibit major integrated oil companies from using accounting rules that can reduce their taxable income and deny oil and gas businesses access to a special pass-through deduction.
These subsidies drain billions of dollars from the public while helping highly profitable corporations avoid paying their fair share. That is revenue Congress could invest in healthcare, housing, public infrastructure, lower energy costs, and cleaner sources of power. Instead, the tax code underwrites more fossil fuel production and protects corporations that have already accumulated hundreds of billions of dollars in profits.
Big Oil has had years to use its historic profits to lower prices or invest in greater stability for consumers. Its executives chose buybacks, dividends, and enormous compensation packages instead. Now, Trump’s Iran war is creating another profit bonanza, and taxpayers are still being ordered to sweeten the deal. Congress must finally cut Big Oil off.
Tell the House to pass H.R. 383, end oil and gas tax subsidies, and make these massively profitable corporations pay their fair share.
Together, we can end Big Oil’s taxpayer-funded war profiteering.
David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
1 US gas prices are back up to an average of $4 a gallon as the US and Iran launch attacks
2 US oil companies see big profit jump, gird for clash over pump prices with Trump
3 Trump’s Proposed Gas Tax Suspension Comes as Big Oil Makes Billions in Profit
4 Casten Reintroduces Trio of Bills to Combat Emissions, Global Warming
5 H.R. 383, End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act of 2025
