Just so you know who’s really making the big bucks:
High gas prices and strong oil company earnings have generated a rash of new tax proposals in recent months. Some lawmakers have called for new “windfall profits” taxes—similar to the one signed into federal law in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter—that would tax the profits of major oil companies at a rate of 50%. Meanwhile, many commentators have voiced support for the idea of increasing gas taxes to keep the price of gasoline at post-Katrina highs, thereby reducing gas consumption. However, often ignored in this debate is the fact that oil industry profits are highly cyclical, making them just as prone to “busts” as to “booms.” Additionally, tax collections on the production and import of gasoline by state and federal governments are already near historic highs. In fact, in recent decades governments have collected far more revenue from gasoline taxes than the largest U.S. oil companies have collectively earned in domestic profits….
So before anyone talks about gouging …
tedder says
So should taxes be lower so oil companies make more profits? Or should taxes be lower so gas prices are higher, or should oil profits be lower so that taxes are relatively higher?
I’m confused.
I’m all for higher gas prices. It doesn’t affect me, as a rider, as much as it would someone who is driving single in a FUH2.
Jim Ryder says
As long as we’re fightin wars so that the price of oil can stay low, we might as well be getting some benefit out of it. Unless you work for a big oil company, better let the US Government have it, even if they do waste a lot of money on b.s. I don’t think Exxon’s going out of business just yet. Just my two cents.