Posted on 01/19/2012 11:33:44 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/19/12 10:20 AM ET
Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits.
The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.
The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress.
The bill would also seem to exclude industry representatives from the board, as it says members "shall have no financial interests in any of the businesses for which reasonable profits are determined by the Board."
According to the bill, a windfall tax of 50 percent would be applied when the sale of oil or gas leads to a profit of between 100 percent and 102 percent of a reasonable profit. The windfall tax would jump to 75 percent when the profit is between 102 and 105 percent of a reasonable profit, and above that, the windfall tax would be 100 percent. The bill also specifies that the oil-and-gas companies, as the seller, would have to pay this tax.
Kucinich said these tax revenues would be used to fund alternative transportation programs when oil-and-gas prices spike.
"Gas prices continue to rise, creating a hardship for the American people," he said. "At the same time, oil companies are making record profits gouging their customers. This bill would tax only the excess profits and create forward-thinking transportation alternatives."
Specifically, he said the money would be used to fund a tax credit on the purchase of fuel-efficient cars and set up a grant program for mass transit programs when oil-and-gas prices are high.
The bill does not estimate the size of these grants or the amount of money that might be collected through the tax.
Co-sponsoring the bill are five other Democrats: Reps. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), Bob Filner (Calif.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), Jim Langevin (R.I.), and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).
Creepy....
There’s incentive for you.
So, are they going to introduce the
“anti-Dog eat dog” law?
But President Obama does have a policy answer to the question, what is your plan to address rising gas prices? He wants to raise taxes on oil companies. With all of the profits oil companies are making, Obama says, they don't need any subsidies. He labels $4 billion in tax loopholes as oil company subsidies and calls for those loopholes to be closed.
Oil companies should not be getting subsidies from the government in any event. But the dollar amount of oil profits is high because the oil companies invest such huge amounts to produce oil. As a return on investment or sales, oil profits are modest. While ExxonMobile and the other oil companies earn about 7% on sales, respected public citizens such as Google, Microsoft, and McDonald's regularly earn 20% or more.
Moreover, the fundamental truth is that the government doesn't subsidize oil companies. Oil companies subsidize the government. ExxonMobile alone pays more in income taxes than the bottom 50% of income earning citizens combined. In 2008 alone, ExxonMobile paid $116.2 billion in taxes. The effective corporate tax rate for all oil companies in 2008 was 42.3%.
************************************************************************************************************************************************* If you want the lower gas prices, lower oil prices, and lower energy prices necessary for a booming economy, you are going to have to get yourselves another President.
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/05/04/obamas-war-on-oil/
I’d like to see a “reasonable government thievery board” that would determine and control how much of other people’s money the lowlife politicians in Washington are allowed to steal and extort from Americans.
I don’t have the numbers readily available, but does not the govt collect more from the sale of a gallon of gas than the oil company makes in profit?
And we have a winner on the fourth message on the thread!
Then what company would even bother to sell excess oil and gas, might as well dump it into a storage tank and leave it there, in hopes the tax is recinded some day.
I've had it with the price gouging of "Big Entertainment".
Sure it makes sense, when you need something make it so companies cannot profit by giving it to you.
After all, they make “enough” and should do stuff for us for free. /s
Why can’t we get rid of liberals this way? Believe me Obama and Michelle are NOT going to do this for nothing.
How 10-289 of them...
Something reasonable proposed by “Dennis the Menace?”
Freak’n communists. Half the country better wake up.
follow by a purposal to “hug a mental midget day”
followed
Yes they do via taxes. On average an oil company makes a dime on a gallon.
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