{"id":3549,"date":"2011-12-21T12:48:41","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T18:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=3549"},"modified":"2011-12-21T12:48:41","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T18:48:41","slug":"no-tax-break-for-valero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/21\/no-tax-break-for-valero\/","title":{"rendered":"No Tax Break for Valero"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1054\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"A woman protests against the proposed tax exemptions for Valero Energy Corporation\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/IMG_8678.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1054\" title=\"&quot;Just Say No to Valero&quot;\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/IMG_8678-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/IMG_8678-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/IMG_8678-620x412.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/IMG_8678-220x146.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Reshma Kirpalani \/ KUT News\/Reporting Texas<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A woman protests against the proposed tax exemptions for Valero Energy Corporation in November.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A request for a tax refund by the Valero Energy Corporation, one of the world&#8217;s largest oil refiners, has been rejected by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ),<a href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/2011\/12\/21\/apnewsbreak_texas_rejects_valero_tax_break_bid_3\/\"> the <em>Associated Press<\/em> reports<\/a>.\u00a0Valero asked for the money under a state law that says companies don\u2019t have to pay taxes on equipment that reduces on-site pollution.<\/p>\n<p>The request was <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/10\/31\/the-arguments-the-valero-tax-break\/\">originally made in 2007<\/a>, when Valero bought the equipment. The money, potentially as much as $92 million, would have come from property tax refunds in appraisal districts. Which means it would have been taken back from cities and schools that are already struggling.<\/p>\n<p>The Associated Press obtained a letter dated December 14 from the executive director of the TCEQ,\u00a0Mark Vickery, to Valero&#8217;s six refineries in Texas. Vickery wrote that the company\u00a0\u201cdoes not demonstrate that the hydrotreating equipment provides a partial environmental benefit at the site.&#8221;<!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/11\/10\/for-residents-of-refinery-row-a-life-of-fire-smoke-and-sickness\/\">On Refinery Row, a Life of Fires, Smoke and Sickness<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/10\/31\/the-arguments-the-valero-tax-break\/\">The Arguments: The Valero Tax\u00a0Break<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/11\/01\/with-profits-like-these-does-valero-need-a-tax-break\/\">With Profits Like These, Does Valero Need a Tax\u00a0Break?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/11\/03\/valero-request-for-tax-break-draws-protest\/\">Valero Request for Tax Break Draws Protest<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/08\/Screen-shot-2011-11-07-at-7.27.37-AM-60x60.png\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/tceq\/\">What Is The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality?<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>More from the <em>Associated Press<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The agency\u2019s move indicates it will also reject 10 other similar requests. An AP analysis of the applications and tax information indicated that if granted, Texas school districts and municipalities could be forced to refund up to $135 million. Some county officials estimate that if granted, the tax breaks would have resulted in a loss of revenue of about $100 million to regions where the refineries are located.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"story-10751841\">\n<div id=\"fold-10751841\">\n<p>StateImpact Texas looked at the <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/10\/31\/the-arguments-the-valero-tax-break\/\">arguments for and against the tax break<\/a> in October, noting that the upgrades installed by Valero didn&#8217;t actually reduce pollution near the refineries as required by the law. And the company had <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/11\/01\/with-profits-like-these-does-valero-need-a-tax-break\/\">billions in profits this year<\/a>, leading some to question why they would risk a negative image over less than a hundred million dollars.\u00a0At the time Bill Day, spokesman for Valero, told StateImpact Texas that &#8220;we&#8217;ve\u00a0always paid our taxes, we have a problem overpaying our taxes. \u201cIs overpaying our taxes in the interests of the community? Should the teachers in Houston overdonate their\u00a0time?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At a protest at the TCEQ in November, we reported on efforts by parents, teachers, and environmental groups to <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/11\/03\/valero-request-for-tax-break-draws-protest\/\">oppose the tax refund<\/a>\u00a0that would take money from local tax districts. Some 150 people showed up.\u00a0\u201cWe have shorter classes, we don\u2019t have extra classes like we used to,\u201d 13-year-old Destiny Gonzalez told StateImpact Texas. \u201cThe national academic league I wanted to compete in this year we no longer have, and we\u2019re literally scrambling out of the room because when the bell rings it\u2019s shorter than it was this\u00a0year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The company has 20 days from Dec. 14 to appeal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A request for a tax refund by the Valero Energy Corporation, one of the world&#8217;s largest oil refiners, has been rejected by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the Associated Press reports.\u00a0Valero asked for the money under a state law that says companies don\u2019t have to pay taxes on equipment that reduces on-site pollution. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":1054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[33,79],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3549"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3554,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions\/3554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}