Yesterday, API Chairman J. Larry Nichols told Congress that the Obama administration's $80 billion tax increase on America's oil and natural gas industry is based on myths and would result in less oil and natural gas for consumers, higher energy costs and kill jobs at a time when the nation's economy needs all the help it can get.

Other witnesses who testified to the Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure of the Senate Finance Committee included:

• Alan Krueger, assistant secretary for economic policy, Treasury Department;
• Stephen Brown, nonresident fellow, Resources for the Future;
• Calvin Johnson, professor of law, University of Texas School of Law;
• Kevin Book, managing director, ClearView Energy Partners LLC; and
• Henry Kleemeier, chairman, Independent Petroleum Association of America.

In his remarks, Nichols noted that these proposals are anti-jobs, anti-consumer and anti-energy. "History has shown that increasing taxes on the oil and natural gas industry negatively affects consumers, businesses and the economy. They will depress investment in new domestic oil and natural gas projects, weaken the nation's energy security and make it more difficult to achieve economic recovery," he said.

Kevin Book added, "After all, at this point in our nation's economic history, it seems equally irrational to demonize the taxes that will fund government operations as it is does to demonize the fossil energy that will power our economic recovery."

For more information on the hearing, read Larry Nichols' testimony and remarks from other witnesses.

Also, visit the Action Center and tell the administration and Congress that American families and businesses can not afford higher taxes.