‘Don’t patronise me’: Rep. Katie Porter takes down oil executive suggesting she doesn’t understand tax rule

Katie Porter, a former professor who taught classes about bankruptcy, has become a social media favorite for her rapid-fire, well-informed questioning of powerful executives

Representative Katie Porter laid into an oil executive on Tuesday after he suggested that she did not understand a tax break for the fossil fuel industry during a congressional hearing.

The California congresswoman had a fiery rebuke for Mark Murphy, president of Strata Production Company, a New-Mexico-based oil firm, when he argued his industry gets no special tax breaks and that she was “operating” from a “misconception”.

The Democratic representative, a former professor who taught classes about bankruptcy, has become a social media favorite for her rapid-fire and well-informed questioning of powerful executives over issues like drugs pricing.

During the virtual hearing on Tuesday, Rep Porter asked Mr Murphy about how much of the oil industry’s intangible drilling costs “do you get to deduct right away from your taxes?”

The oil executive responded that “there seems to be a misconception out there that you’re operating from that somehow the oil and gas industry have benefits from some special sort of tax structure. We don’t”.

Rep Porter countered: “You do benefit from special rules.”

She continued: “There’s a special tax rule for intangible drilling costs that does not apply to other kinds of expenses that businesses have. You get to deduct 70 per cent of your costs immediately, and other businesses have to amortise their expenses over their entire profit stream.

“So please don’t patronise me by telling me that the oil and gas industry doesn’t have any special tax provisions. Because if you would like that to be the rule, I would be happy to have Congress deliver.”

Rep. Porter was one of a group of Democrats who introduced a new bill last week to reform federal oil and gas leasing regulations, including by raising royalty rates for the first time in a century.

She is known for scrawling on her so-called “whiteboard of truth” during committee meetings. It is a prop that she has said she will bring along to her new appointment as chair of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on oversight.

She will play a central role in US energy policy as Joe Biden places limits on federal fossil fuel development as his administration tries a “whole of government approach” to tackling the climate crisis.

On his first day in office, the president signed an executive order to pause new federal oil and gas leases – which account for about 25 per cent of US petroleum production. Environmentalists hope this a move towards Mr Biden’s campaign promise of a permanent ban.