Who had the idea first, Barack Obama or Hugo Chavez? (Vanity)

self

[jsh3180]

Is Obama taking a page out of Hugo's book or vice versa. The stories are astoundingly similar.

May 1 -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year's profit levels, a campaign adviser said.

The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned- income tax credit and assistance for people who can't afford their energy bills.

``The profits right now are so remarkable that one could trim them 10 percent or so, which would turn out to be somewhere in the $15 billion range,'' said Jason Grumet, an adviser to the Obama campaign.

AND THIS:

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's planned windfall oil tax will be levied on all private companies operating in the country and will bring in several billion dollars a year, Venezuela's oil minister said on Wednesday.

The government of leftist President Hugo Chavez last week announced that the new tax will take 50 percent of oil revenues above $70 per barrel and 60 percent of revenues above $100 per barrel in efforts to boost government income.

[jsh3180]

Sorry about the vanity!! Nope, not really!!

[xcamel]

Hint:
Here, the profits go to the stockholders. There, they go right to Hugo’s bank account.

In both cases, they’re stealing from the average Joe with a 401K, and widows, and pensioners.

[kromike]

I’d be curious to take a poll of just oil industry executives & employees and see how many of them support Ears for president.

[Mike Darancette]

The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal.

So who pays the tax, the entity selling the oil? Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada pay the tax? Or does the refinery buying the Oil pay the tax thus tacking it onto the price of distillates?

The price of Oil stated on the spot market is somewhere near $115/bbl but when someone like Exxon buys Saudi oil and loads it on their own ship doesn't Exxon pay at the wellhead a price already contracted with the producer which is different (probably less) than the spot price? Surely the oil that Exxon pumps from the North Slope and delivers to it's refineries does not cost even $80/bbl?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

H. L. Mencken called an election (under St. Roosevelt, the Beneficent) an advance auction on stolen goods. How right he was.

[ricks_place]

If ExxonMobil is making so much money, buy the darn stock or even better buy call options! Obama’s Marxist rant punishing ExxonMobil success will discomfort its biggest shareholders, Institutional Investors (52.14%), ie. government pension funds!

[donna]

[depressed in 06]

I thought “bills of attainder” were illegal. You cannot target the biggest while letting the others go. Let me guess, the biggest are bigger than Citgo.

[Loyal Buckeye]

Who had the idea first?>P>HC (Hugo Chavez and Hillary Clinton) followed by B HO.

[Solitar]

Jimmy Carter imposed a Windfall Profits Tax on Oil Companies in 1980.
From Independent Institute
In 1980, President Carter signed into law the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act, which established excise taxes as high as 70 percent on the difference between the market-determined price of oil and a (lower) price set by law. The tax was dropped in 1987, but according to the Congressional Research Service, almost $80 billion was drained from the industry’s income statements while it was in effect.