In Case You Missed It: Increases in Energy Taxes Could Cost Latinos Jobs

In yesterday's Houston Chronicle, race and ethnic politics expert Victoria DeFrancesco Soto cautions that President Obama's current proposed tax increases on the US oil and gas industry not only run counter to efforts to revitalize the economy but would disproportionately affect communities of color:

The Latino community has been especially hard hit in this recession with unemployment rates consistently above that of the national average. Even in the midst of the immigration debate, jobs still remain the top concern for Latinos, as shown in a recent AP-Univision poll...

Amid the deepest recession we have seen in 70 years, every effort should be made to balance environmental, security and economic concerns. These goals are not mutually exclusive; however, recent legislation seeks to make them so.

For example, an amendment added earlier this month to the Senate's "Small Business Jobs" bill by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., repeals a tax credit currently available to all American manufacturers. If passed, this amendment would have the perverse effect of cutting U.S. jobs, increasing our energy prices, and providing foreign firms a competitive advantage. I invite Baucus to come to Harris County, Texas, and see for himself how his proposal fares with the thousands of people whose livelihood depends on American oil and gas companies...

In 2008, more than 67 percent of the Latino population voted for Barack Obama. Spending more than $20 million to target their community alone, his campaign was the most aggressive to date in courting the Latino vote. Candidate Obama and now President Obama promised he would protect the jobs of Latinos. In this high stakes energy debate, he has an opportunity to do just that.

Visit http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7170032.html to read the full text of Dr. DeFrancesco Soto's op-ed.

Victoria DeFrancesco Soto's work in political psychology and race and ethnic politics gives her a unique perspective on issues that will play into this November's elections. Her research projects examine the influence of social group identity on political behavior, in particular with regards to campaigns; black-Latino intergroup relations; comparative race studies; and attitudes toward immigration. A third major component of DeFrancesco Soto's research is the area of campaign media effects, where she and Jennifer Merolla were the first to publish a study on the role of Latino-angled campaign advertisements on electoral behavior in 2006.