Posted on 04/23/2006 1:00:08 PM PDT by Crackingham
The government should consider a tax on oil companies if they make excessive profits amid rising gasoline prices, a leading Republican senator said Sunday. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said a windfall profits tax, along with measures to stem concentration of market power among a few select oil companies, could offer eventual relief to consumers hurting at the gas pump.
"I believe that we have allowed too many companies to get together to reduce competition," Specter said.
"They get together, reduce the supply of oil, and that drives up prices," he said. "In the short run, it's hard to deal with it for tomorrow. But I think windfall profits, eliminating the antitrust exemption, considering the excessive concentration of power are all items we ought to be addressing."
Specter is backing legislation that would strengthen antitrust laws on oil company mergers after his committee held a hearing last month examining the growing consolidation of the oil industry. The nation's largest oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., have denied their industry size has affected prices.
Last week, crude-oil prices hit record highs and average gasoline prices nationwide neared $3 a gallon.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he believes gas prices "would come down within a matter of days" if President Bush told oil companies that he was going to support a windfall profits tax.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Spector is an @ss!
Where is his proof that oil companies are conspiring to reduce competition?! Every investigation of oil companies shows that gas prices are a function of supply and demand.
OTOH, we have plenty of proof that Congress conspires to raise gas prices. It allows the EPA (an unconstitutional agency) to require numerous gas formulations (an unconstitutional regulation). It refuses to allow drilling in ANWR. It allows endless blocking of building nuclear power plants. And now it wants to impose another tax on oil companies which will just be passed onto the consumer as higher gas prices!
It is not the oil companies that need investigating here. They aren't conspiring. They don't need to. Congress is openly conspiring to raise gas prices. So Congress should be investigated.
Maybe we should start with Specter.
The US should consider a law that allows for profoundly ignorant politicians to be removed from office as soon as they demonstrate that they are mentally incapable of understanding free markets.
I know...this would clean-out about 2/3 of congress. We can call it the Arlen bill.
Until he is in the position to do so.
Be careful for what you wish for.
It took 29 posts for the first to show up.
Yup, it's long been official, but Spectre reconfirmed it.
The Republicans are no better than the Democrats when dealing with the oil/gasoline issue.
Add to that a single formulation of gasoline that works for the entire country.
Yes, he had the full support of the administration against a real conservative, Pat Toomey. And now Specter acting just like the lib he is.
I'll agree to a windfall profits tax on one condition: Gimme it!
Seems that as long as our political landscape features Republican vs. Democrat instead of Conservative vs. Liberal we will be plagued by these fools. You know this old man would rather drink wine with Kennedy and Kerry than break bread with a tax-paying working family.
And then she uses state tax dollars to bash the admin online. And this state is one of the most abusive when it comes to taxing - they put percentage taxes on top of other taxes so when the price goes up so does the extortion amount into state coffers. They love high prices.
Here's one historical accounting of the WPT
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/cf7c9c870b600b9585256df80075b9dd/edf8de04e58e4b14852570ba0048848b?OpenDocument
By 1988, though, opposition had grown to a fever pitch. The tax eventually succumbed to its own disappointing results. It had proven to be a heavy administrative burden, both for taxpayers and the IRS. Oil industry representatives claimed annual compliance costs of $40 million to $50 million. Press reports suggested the IRS was spending as much as $15 million to collect the tax. Overall, it was a heavy cross to bear, complained oil executives. In 1984 a General Accounting Office report called the WPT "perhaps the largest and most complex tax ever levied on a U.S. industry."
Worse, the tax had yielded less revenue than anticipated throughout its existence -- and none at all in its later years. Oil prices had failed to continue their dramatic rise; between 1980 and 1986, they had fallen from $30 to just $10 per barrel. Meanwhile, the WPT's "base price" -- used to calculate tax liability -- had continued to rise with inflation, as required by law. Squeezed from both sides of the equation, the tax had become a negligible source of revenue.
In its eight years of existence, the WPT raised $79 billion in revenue, the CRS later reported. But since those payments were deductible against income, affected companies enjoyed a lower burden under the regular corporate income tax, effectively reducing the net yield to about $40 billion -- a far cry from early hopes.
Meanwhile, domestic oil production had fallen to its lowest level in 20 years. While demand had continued to rise, domestic producers had fallen behind in the search for new oil reserves. As a result, the United States had increased its reliance on foreign oil supplies. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the United States had derived about 32 percent of its energy from foreign sources in 1983. By 1986 that figure had climbed to 38 percent. Some analysts expected the trend to continue, although not everyone believed that taxes were driving the dynamic
Well, with Frist running the show, we might as well just hand over the keys and go back to really being in the minority instead of just acting like we are.
McConnell will get things done.
Hey, Sphincter! Here's an idea, a moratorium on ALL taxes on oil products. Let the people see what you leeches really are taking out of our pockets.
Sure, we would be wallowing in the quagmire as some profess we are now doing so if Democrats were in power.
They are all the same, right? ROTFLMAO
A wish and promotion for another liberal government agenda.
Nicely done however!
Bet Hollywood studios have a higher profit margin.
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