Study: U.S. Fossil Fuel Subsidies Exceed Pentagon Spending

The United States has spent more subsidizing fossil fuels in recent years than it has on defense spending, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund. 

The dome of the U.S. Capitol is seen behind the smoke
 stacks of the Capitol Power Plant, the only coal-burning
power plant in Washington, D.C.

The IMF found that direct and indirect subsidies for coal, oil and gas in the U.S. reached $649 billion in 2015. Pentagon spending that same year was $599 billion.

The study defines “subsidy” very broadly, as many economists do. It accounts for the “differences between actual consumer fuel prices and how much consumers would pay if prices fully reflected supply costs plus the taxes needed to reflect environmental costs” and other damage, including premature deaths from air pollution.

Read the story from Rolling Stone by Tom Dickinson - “Study: U.S. Fossil Fuel Subsidies Exceed Pentagon Spending.”