Photo by Samer Farha.

Remember last week, when the Washington Post reported that Pepco had received several million dollars more in federal tax credits over the past few years than it had paid in taxes? (Approximately $41 million dollars more in 2010, to be accurate.) Well, in a letter to the editor published in the Post today, Pepco chief financial officer Anthony Kamerick argues that people should be aiming their ire at the government, since they’re the ones ultimately responsible for the utility’s negative 118 percent tax rate over the past three years.

Those who have filed an individual tax return know one thing: The U.S. tax code is complicated. It is more complicated when a corporate tax return is filed.

Changes to the tax code are often driven by policy objectives. The mortgage interest deduction reduces taxes a homeowner pays and is designed to encourage homeownership.

During this economic downturn, policy objectives were developed to encourage economic investment and create jobs. One action was to allow greater accelerated depreciation on new capital investments. Policymakers wanted to give companies incentives to invest and create jobs. In support of this objective, a company could deduct 50 percent of an investment in year one, lowering its federal taxable income and reducing the amount of taxes owed. These policy objectives are economic incentives, not “loopholes.”

Yeah, see, Pepco had to take those tax credits, because if not, they would be failing to do their, uh, patriotic duty to resuscitate the lagging American economy! Or something.

Tell you what, guys. You take that $41 million surplus you got from the feds last year and apply it to $42.1 million gap you claim to need to bridge by upping customers’ rates by more than five percent, and we’ll pretend this whole thing never happened. Deal?