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Corporations don't pay taxes. They usually flow through to the people who buy their goods and services. If the corporation lacks the pricing power to pass them onto their customers, they may be worn by the shareholders and/or workers. If a tax allowance or credit is eliminated, the cost of doing business increases. The consequences will flow through to the customers, although the shareholders and workers may also be impacted. The accelerated depreciation and write-off provisions accorded big oil should be eliminated. They are no longer necessary. However, how they flow back is not as straightforward as it may seem. If big oil loses a tax deduction or tax credit, it will try to reflect it in the price of its products.  Given the relative inelastic price/demand curve for oil, especially gasoline, the price increases probably would stick. Most people would have less money to spend on other items, i.e. clothing, restaurants, travel vendors, etc.The incomes of these businesses would go down, which would result in lower tax payments.  The oil companies claim that the elimination of their tax preferences would cause them to cut back on exploration and reduce their workforce. If the workforce is reduced and the workers cannot find like kind jobs or any job, their tax payments to the national and state treasuries would be reduced or eliminated.   Those in favor of eliminating the tax preferences for big oil claim that it would result in an increase in tax revenues.  That's probably true, but for the reasons stated above it is not likely to be a one for one exchange. If the price of oil went up significantly, and the oil companies terminated a large number of employees, tax revenues might not change at all or change marginally.  I favor spending government taxpayer money for infrastructure improvements where there is a reasonable probability of a payoff.  But I don't favor doing so where there is little if any potential payoff. Trains in relatively short, high density corridors, as per Amtrak's current financial statements, have the potential, with some changes in revenue and cost variables, of recovering all of their costs. The long distance trains, which serve so few people as to not even move the intercity transport needle, based on 40 years of experience, have no potential of recovering the investment that has been made in them.
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