Thai gov. to tax (remitted) income from abroad for tax residents starting 2024 - Part II

[webfact]

Trump open to biofuel policy reform, senators say after meeting

By Susan Cornwell

 

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at the White House in Washington, U.S. December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is open to reforming the country's biofuels policy if it can be done in a way that protects jobs in both the refining and agriculture industries, senators said on Thursday after a meeting with Trump on the issue.

 

Nine lawmakers had requested the meeting to argue that the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, a law requiring refiners to blend increasing amounts of biofuels like corn-based ethanol into the fuel supply every year, was threatening to put refineries in their districts out of business.

 

The Trump administration had ruled in favour of Big Corn and against the refining industry in a series of decisions this year, with senators on both sides using parliamentary procedures like holds on administrative appointments to punish rivals.

 

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who led the lawmaker delegation, said Trump was open to a "win-win" solution.

 

"The group as a whole agreed with the president to reconvene next week and to expand the group and work together to find a (solution) that is a win for blue-collar workers, a win for jobs, but also a win for farmers at the same time,” he told Fox News after the meeting.

 

Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and James Lankford of Oklahoma also said Trump expressed a desire to help refiners in a way that protected the interests of farmers, but that more discussions were needed.

 

"It was just a recognition that this is a more complicated problem and we’re going to have to get everybody together from all sides," Lankford told reporters.

 

The White House said the meeting was productive and that Trump remained committed to the RFS, farmers and energy workers.

 

"He understands there are differing views on this issue, and the Administration looks forward to working with all the stakeholders toward a mutually agreeable path forward," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

 

REFINERS SEEK CHANGES

 

The RFS was introduced more than a decade ago by President George W. Bush as a way to boost U.S. agriculture, slash energy imports and cut emissions, and has since fostered a market for ethanol amounting to 15 billion gallons a year.

 

Refiners oppose the RFS because they say it costs them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in blending and regulatory expenses while propping up demand for rival fuels. Refiners that do not have the facilities to blend biofuels must purchase credits, called RINs, from those that do and hand them into the EPA once a year.

 

A refining lobbyist briefed on Thursday's meeting said one possible solution discussed was capping the RINs - an idea that is opposed by the Renewable Fuels Association, the largest biofuel trade group.

 

The refining industry has requested tweaks to the policy in the past that would cut the annual volume targets for biofuels, allow ethanol exports to be counted against those targets, or shift the blending burden to supply terminals.

 

While the leadership of the EPA, which administers the RFS, had considered some of the changes, it ultimately rejected them under pressure from Midwestern lawmakers, and slightly increased biofuels volumes targets for 2018.

 

The meeting with Trump could set the stage for negotiations over legislation, but any measure would likely require cooperation from representatives of the corn belt. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said this week he was not invited to the meeting and called it "a waste of time."

 

Biofuels industry representatives did not attend the meeting.

 

Cruz has said he would block Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey's nomination to a key post at the U.S. Department of Agriculture until he gets a meeting about biofuels that includes all sides on the issue.

 

(Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in New York and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-08

[rudi49jr]

Trump doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. Just google 'Trump' and 'hairspray' and you will see he doesn't have the first idea about the laws of physics or whatever. And that ignorant man-child is running the USA. What a joke.

[ClutchClark]

1 minute ago, rudi49jr said:

Trump doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. Just google 'Trump' and 'hairspray' and you will see he doesn't have the first idea about the laws of physics or whatever. And that ignorant man-child is running the USA. What a joke.

 

Quite the contrary.

 

Trumps prowess at managing his hair shows a thorough understanding and mastery of controlling the law of physics.

 

 

[ClutchClark]

Biofuel legislation is not based on sound science. It is based on pandering votes and lining politicians pockets with lobbyist dollars.

 

Arible land is not a “renewable” resource. It is a finite resource and should be valued for food production.

 

[rudi49jr]

10 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

 

Quite the contrary.

 

Trumps prowess at managing his hair shows a thorough understanding and mastery of controlling the law of physics.

 

 

You're kidding, right?

[ClutchClark]

2 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

You're kidding, right?

 

Is it possible to have a serious discussion about Trump’s hair?

 

But I stand by my claim that Trump knows enough about the Laws of Physics to defy them every morning he prepares his coif.

[Credo]

I very, very much doubt that oil refineries are in jeopardy.   

 

As for the biofuel.   I have a vehicle that takes E-85, and the cost is a staggering 80 cents a gallon less that the regular blend.   There is some loss in gas mileage, about 2 mpg, but it is sure nice to fill up my gas tank for $20+  instead of $40+ 

 

Oh, and I haven't noticed any food shortages as a result.   

[ClutchClark]

12 minutes ago, Credo said:

I very, very much doubt that oil refineries are in jeopardy.   

 

As for the biofuel.   I have a vehicle that takes E-85, and the cost is a staggering 80 cents a gallon less that the regular blend.   There is some loss in gas mileage, about 2 mpg, but it is sure nice to fill up my gas tank for $20+  instead of $40+ 

 

Oh, and I haven't noticed any food shortages as a result.   

Refineries that lack the capacity to blend fuels are in jeopardy.

 

Its an issue of market share.

 

The 80 cents a gallon savings is a direct result of gov’t subsidy and nothing inherent to the manufacture of Biofuel.

 

The only way you are “halving” your pump price from $40 to $20 with an 80 cent discount is if your conventional fuel is $1.60 a gallon. Areyou sure about your math?

 

Lastly, food shortages (food supplies) are measurable by bushel price. You are not going to find no corn in your grocery produce section as a measurement of biofuels competing for arable land.

 

You are a smart guy. I am surprised you would take a position like you have before doing a bit more research.

 

If you are in Thailand then I might suggest you research the environmental havoc caused by Palm Oil production which is the major constituent of BioDiesel blends as far away as the EU.

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed.   Enough with Trump's hair.  

[Credo]

1 hour ago, ClutchClark said:

Refineries that lack the capacity to blend fuels are in jeopardy.

 

Its an issue of market share.

 

The 80 cents a gallon savings is a direct result of gov’t subsidy and nothing inherent to the manufacture of Biofuel.

 

The only way you are “halving” your pump price from $40 to $20 with an 80 cent discount is if your conventional fuel is $1.60 a gallon. Areyou sure about your math?

 

Lastly, food shortages (food supplies) are measurable by bushel price. You are not going to find no corn in your grocery produce section as a measurement of biofuels competing for arable land.

 

You are a smart guy. I am surprised you would take a position like you have before doing a bit more research.

 

If you are in Thailand then I might suggest you research the environmental havoc caused by Palm Oil production which is the major constituent of BioDiesel blends as far away as the EU.

My math is fine.   The vehicle I am talking about is the one in the US.   I fill up when I fill up, not a specific point when the tank is at a certain level.   E-85 isn't always available, but if I find it, I fill up -- maybe close to empty, maybe not.   

 

The oil industry is one of the few that isn't having a great deal of financial problems.   

 

 

[Srikcir]

5 hours ago, ClutchClark said:

should be valued for food production.

US corn production exceeds human and livestock needs demonstrated by the fact that corn is used to produce ethanol, which has accounted for 35-40% of U.S. corn use in recent years. However, ethanol production has plateaued as oil prices have fallen and the gasoline market has hit a 10-percent blend constraint. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/agricultural-production-and-prices/

Start reducing volumes of corn for biofuel and the resulting oversupply of corn will cause a collapse in price support. That won't help corn farmers.

[ClutchClark]

4 hours ago, Srikcir said:

US corn production exceeds human and livestock needs demonstrated by the fact that corn is used to produce ethanol, which has accounted for 35-40% of U.S. corn use in recent years. However, ethanol production has plateaued as oil prices have fallen and the gasoline market has hit a 10-percent blend constraint. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/agricultural-production-and-prices/

Start reducing volumes of corn for biofuel and the resulting oversupply of corn will cause a collapse in price support. That won't help corn farmers.

Your first sentence draws a false conclusion. 

It fails to take into account export demand and it fails to take into account government subsidy artificially increasing the commodity price.

 

Farmers have been ripping up and removong timbered land in order to turn it into only marginal cropland to take advantage of government subsidies. 

 

If you want to talk about the benefits of Bio fuels in Brazil where the feedstocks are the waste from sugar cane then I think we can find some common ground.

 

As for helping corn farmers, sorry but the US EPA mandated Biofuel Initiative was not designed to benefit farmers...its intended purpose was to benefit the environment.

 

Politicians turned it into a way to buy the Farm vote and pocket BIG dollars from some of the major Lobbyists...Monsanto, Cargill, etc..  

Edited December 8, 2017 by ClutchClark

[Credo]

Finding common ground with clutch isn't really possible.   Farm subsidies have been around a lot longer than ethanol production.   Ethanol has little or nothing to do with subsidies.  Years ago, corn was sold/given to foreign countries as a part of foreign aide packages.   The gov't bought the corn and it was a way of providing a base price for commodities.   It's also used for many, many, many other crops.

 

As far as ripping up timber land for crops, it's privately owned land.   It can be used for whatever purpose.   I suppose building houses would be noble, but farming isn't?  It's a nice deflection, but it really doesn't work.

 

Oil refineries really don't suffer from the gov't overlords.   Unlike the farm land, which will always be there and can be returned to nature, pasture land or other purposes, oil refineries can't do much else, except refine oil.  It's not like they can switch to refining sugar.

 

Drop the ethanol production and watch the bottom fall out of corn prices, and then watch the gov't buy it up and either export below cost or let it rot  somewhere (check on the rice scheme in Thailand for how some of that works).   

 

Ethanol is a renewable fuel.   Oil isn't.   

 

Oh, and don't argue about growing corn or farming with me.   I have farm land in 2 different countries, so I do know a little about how it works.   Oh, and by the way, I get no farm subsidies for any of it, which is mostly wheat, sunflowers and corn, along with a small amount of other crops for animal feed (barley & oats primarily).

[ClutchClark]

Poor Credo has to immediately fall back on a personal attack.

 

credo, you are just now trying to learn about this topic and not to gain insight to make an informed position but rather attempting to gather data only to support a premature position. You made your mind up first and now look to prove it out. 

 

On the other hand, I have been involved in farming my entire life. 

I have been involved in Oil & gas for decades.

Biofuel discussions have been a part of my weekly discussions with those in the Industry for several years now. 

 

You could tske this opportunity to learn something but instead you only want to argue a position that is largely unresearched. Sorry but all of the Google searching in the world is not going to get you up to speed as insight gained by having been a participant in count

ess discussions and seminars with Industry professionals. 

 

But now I am trying to recall your political leanings and I seem to remember you are a liberal. Is this the reason you put the cart before the horse and chose a position before thorough research? Is this why you so quickly went for personal attack? 

 

Spend the next 10 years learning about the subject with an open mind and then you and I will be on a level playing field to have a discussion. Your post above is sprinkled with a few generalizations and assumptions but lacks any technical expertise or insight on legislation or even the various sources of BioFuels.

 

BTW, I personally profit from the BioFuel industry as a farmer and I rely on BioDiesel in my machinery and have no desire to return to ULSD (do you know what that is?). Regardless my personal gains I still consider the current trend a dangerous one as do many in the Industry.

Edited December 8, 2017 by ClutchClark

[Credo]

Not googling anything.   I spent my life farming, until I moved overseas.   I know little about the oil and gas business, other than having a lot of oil (and coal) around my land.   

 

But Biofuel is renewable.   Oil isn't; at least not in the next 10,000 or so years.   

 

Oh, and I'll take 70 cents a gallon off my gas bill any day.   I hope that's not to liberal for you.   

 

 

Edited December 8, 2017 by Credo