OIL TAX BREAK RIDICULED BY U.S. HOUSE TAXWRITER A House taxwriter said Energy Secretary James Herrington's "outrageous" plan to restore an old tax break for oil companies was both bad tax and energy policy. Rep. Pete Stark, a California Democrat and senior House Ways and Means Committee member, said Herrington's plan for a 27.5 pct depletion allowance--which in effect is a special 27.5 pct tax deduction --would cost seven billion dlrs a year. "He must have missed the last two years of federal tax reform by sleeping as soundly as Rip Van Winkle," Stark said. He said in a statement the oil industry already pays an effective lower rate of U.S. tax on investment, 15 pct versus aggregate corporate tax on all investment of 34 pct, according to a recent Congressional Research Service study.