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President Joe Biden on Monday will raise the possibility of imposing a ‘windfall tax’ on energy companies, as his administration aims to combat high gas prices just days before the midterm elections. The White House said Biden will deliver remarks to respond ”to reports over recent days of major oil companies making record-setting profits even as they refuse to help lower prices at the pump for the American people." A person familiar with the matter said Biden will float imposing a tax on the profits of energy companies, as he seeks to pressure them to lower prices for consumers. The...

"Putin's war is causing gas prices to rise, but this is no excuse for large oil companies to pad their bottom line with war-fueled profits," tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) along with an MSNBC video of her explaining her stance. "Senate Democrats are watching closely—and already working on a windfall profits tax." Warren also said that she gets "supply and demand—that prices go up" but that "profit margins should not go up, that's just oil companies gouging."What she calls "gouging" is actually demand adjusting to supply. She also forgets that higher profit margins strongly incentivize entrepreneurs to supply more of...

John Major yesterday told the Tories to show “a heart and social conscience” as he proposed a windfall tax on energy firms. Piling pressure on David Cameron over soaring power bills, the former prime minister said it was “criminally easy” to overlook the millions of “silent citizens” struggling through no fault of their own. He said it was wrong that so many families would have “to choose between keeping warm and eating” this winter. … Most British voters will opt to remain within the European Union in the proposed in/out referendum, Sir John Major suggested. …

WSJ - REVIEW & OUTLOOK What Is a 'Windfall' Profit? August 4, 2008; Page A12 The "windfall profits" tax is back, with Barack Obama stumping again to apply it to a handful of big oil companies. Which raises a few questions: What is a "windfall" profit anyway? How does it differ from your everyday, run of the mill profit? Is it some absolute number, a matter of return on equity or sales -- or does it merely depend on who earns it? Enquiring entrepreneurs want to know. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama's "emergency" plan, announced on Friday, doesn't offer any clarity. To...

Barack Obama branded John McCain a stooge of profit-soaked oil giants as the White House rivals duelled on high petrol prices and energy policy exactly three months from US Presidential election day. Celebrating his 47th birthday, Senator Obama launched a stinging counterattack after the Republican Senator McCain had cast him as a vacuous celebrity unfit to lead at a time of gathering crisis. Unveiling a new energy plan, Senator Obama promised a 10-year, $US150 billion ($A161.43 billion) drive to cut US ''addiction'' to oil from global hot spots like the Middle East and Venezuela. ''Breaking our oil addiction is one...

CARACAS, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Venezuela may create a windfall oil tax on earnings generated by quick increases in oil prices, President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday, extending the OPEC's nation's efforts to increase revenues from the oil industry. The leftist Chavez has led a drive to boost taxes on oil companies and increase state control over the industry, a crusade that has led to an escalating legal battle between Venezuela and Exxon Mobil over nationalized assets. "Soon I want to be presented with a recommendation for what we could call the tax on sudden earnings," Chavez said during his...

Rolling into the busy summer driving season, Congress just can't seem to resist the urge to scapegoat oil companies. Just before Memorial Day weekend, Congress held another in what has become a seemingly interminable number of hearings into "big oil's" role in high gasoline prices and threatening to punish the industry for making a profit. Though many Americans seem to feel low gasoline prices are an American birthright, congressional solutions are likely to make our problems worse. Before legislating in haste, leaving drivers to repent for years to come, Congress should take a page from the Bible. I recommend Matthew...

Proposals to control gasoline prices and tax producers' windfall profits were popular ideas that were tried -- without much success -- during the oil shocks of the 1970s and 1980s. The era of price controls is most remembered for long lines at gas stations. The controls were put in place by the Nixon and Ford administrations in reaction to a jump in fuel prices caused by cuts in production by the newly formed international oil cartel, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

If Willy Sutton were alive today, he’d be eyeing the oil industry. Sutton, you’ll remember, was once asked why he robbed banks. “‘Cause that’s where the money is,” he replied. According to our sources, Evo Morales may be doing a Willy Sutton number. As candidate for President, he promised the Bolivian peasants a big pay increase. Then, when he got into office, the mean people at the national treasury had a little talk with him. “Where was the money going to come from?” they wanted to know. Evo looked around. He was losing popularity fast. What did the country have...

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...