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.).
Soooo......... the feds want to tell a private corporation:
where to get their product.
how to get their product.
how to transport their product.
where they can create their product.
how they manufacture their product.
what they have to put in and leave out of their product.
and now they want to tell the private company how much profit they are allowed to make....
this is wrong on so many levels, i cannot even get angry....simply friggin unbelievable!!!
can someone show me where in the constitution the feds have this power?
Oh, really?
Would this be a percentage or a dollar limit?
Which operating cost number would provide the basis?
Does it apply to individual companies within the corporation or the corporation as a whole?
Let’s say the profit limit is 10%.
What does this mean for all of the non-oil companies with considerably higher profit margins?
The Feds could drop the price of a gallon of gas .50 cents tomorrow....
Bill of Attainder anyone?
No thanks, I remember my father having to leave the house at 5:00 AM to get on a line to buy gasoline. One poor fellow died of carbon monoxide poisoning waiting to fill up.
Restricting profits will lead to a reduced supply.
I propose a rope and a tree at high noon.
Maybe a congressional reasonable congressional return on investment board. Impose a 100% tax on investment income over and above say the “reasonable” rate of return the average joe expects from his/her social security contributions.
(Gawd, my head hurts.)
And we really need a "Reasonable Profits Board" to assure that the news media doesn't make too much money - they should be reporting the news as a public service! /sarc
Later, when they told her that Ellis Wyatt had vanished, leaving nothing behind but a board he had nailed to a post at the foot of the hill, when she looked at his handwriting on the board, she felt as if she had almost known that these would be the words: "I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours."
Wow. Beyond parody.
Can’t they tell the difference between profit and profit margin?
So who is making a windfall here.
I hate these people. They must be destroyed!
Government is stripping our money and our rights by the trillions and this idiot worries about some company making money. Hey, dingbat, leave congress and boycott whatever company you choose. If only the rest of us could boycott the government bully on the corner.
Directive 10-289 should be countermanded by Rule 308
Going back to basics, how about a Congressional excess profit board for congressmen and women? Say...they get to keep only what they are paid, not able to prpofit one red cent from investments while in office and for a specified time therafter?
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Especially proud of our passive populace. |
Any word on the Reasonable Taxes Board? If the 7%-8% profit on gasoline is obscene what do we call the 15%-20% tax?
1. High union officials joining the government to run the country.
2. Agricultural surpluses diverted to idiotic, non-productive schemes.
3. Taxpayers' money wasted to support failing corporations that are well-connected.
4. National wealth sent overseas to support failing socialist governments.
5. Widespread unemployment combined with a sense that someone should be given a job because he or she "needs" it.
6. Failing financial institutions that declined to separate a profitable investment from a popular one.
7. Entertainers producing incoherent crap that is foisted on the public as daring and creative.
8. Productive entrepreneurs taxed out of business in the interest of unproductive dinosaurs who have government figures on their payroll.
9. A general national sense that something has gone terribly wrong, fed by government scapegoating and avoidance of responsibility.
10. A sycophantic press prostituting their integrity for a slice of power.
11. A parasitic sub-culture convinced that the only reason it isn't rich is that someone else is stealing from its members, who by right ought to prosper with no effort as a birthright.
12. A well-fed, arrogant ruling class whose first responsibility is to see that the trough is full for its own good and that of its supporters, willing to drag the country down so long as they are the last to go hungry.
Maybe we'd be more comfortable by ignoring the whole thing. The government will provide. Trust the government.
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