Windfall taxes on Oil Companies - for it or against it?

UnConfused

I'm for it. They don't "need" to increase priced due to demand - they just can so they do.

When prices are at record highs and profits are at record highs....time to tax them for windfall profits I think

You?

5go

I don't call it wind fall, I call it price gouging! I say hall them off to prison and take away those corporations and put that resource in better hands.

undercover

Well...part of it is supply and demand. We demand it, they supply it.

We do live in a capitalistic society...free enterprise and all that. Just because they are in the most profitable business going right now is not enough reason to tax them.

But at the same time, record profits when the price of oil per barrel continues to skyrocket and the cost of locating new sites for drilling increases, it does seem that they're taking advantage.

But let's not forget the crooked politicians who have been wooed by the oil company lobbyists to continue to keep laws and regulations in favor of the oil companies. Instead of forcing us to look ahead and find better, cleaner, renewable energy sources, the politicians are making sure that oil companies have it easy.

Another, more sinister, conspiratorial thought that I've had is that maybe the oil companies know that the end is near for "cheap" gas for the US and are reaping what they can while they can. When we get hit with real high prices that actually forces us to change our lifestyles, they'll know they'll have to do their part as well in keeping the nation from completely tanking. At that point, the record profits will end and they will end up more like the airlines, struggling to survive while the world finally finds a way to survive without them.

Anti-Christ

Another, more sinister, conspiratorial thought that I've had is that maybe the oil companies know that the end is near for "cheap" gas for the US and are reaping what they can while they can. When we get hit with real high prices that actually forces us to change our lifestyles, they'll know they'll have to do their part as well in keeping the nation from completely tanking. At that point, the record profits will end and they will end up more like the airlines, struggling to survive while the world finally finds a way to survive without them.

We are victims of oil's success. Almost every thing in our developed world orbits around oil. When the price of oil is affected almost everything else is affected.

When prices are at record highs and profits are at record highs....time to tax them for windfall profits I think

I think for now that would be a good idea.

VoidEater

Regulation strengthens diversity of the marketplace and moderates market disturbances.

Windfall taxes may be one way to regulate an oil industry run amok.

We are not a purely capitalistic society, nor should we be.

Fadeout

This is one of those "solutions," like the death penalty, that is an emotional response to a situation that calls for reason.

The economically ignorant kneejerk socialist reaction to large corporate profits (boo profits!) is to say "let's take more in retaliation to their price gouging."

Nevermind the fact that increased taxation would NOT encourage lower prices. Just because you're taking a larger percentage of the profits does not mean you've eliminated profit-making as a motive. Do people really need to be told this?

How about this... if their product is not worth what they're asking for it, DON'T BUY IT.

By the way, if corporate profits increase, the taxes they're paying are increasing as well.

The bill would set up a Reasonable Profits Board to determine when these companies’ profits are in excess, and then tax them on those windfall profits. -U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, Pennsylvania Democrat

This is what I love about America... The "Reasonable Profits Board" to determine if my company has made too much money, according to their expert opinion. And I'm sure it will stop at the largest corporations (boo corporations!) and once that precedent is set, our trustworthy government would never expand to review the profits of smaller corporations, family businesses, and individual proprietorships. I mean, governments just don't do that, right?

SacrificialLoon

Their profit margins aren't really all that out of line. Getting rid of the tax breaks that Bush and the Republican congress gave them would be a good idea though.

BurnTheShips

Talk about a thread chock full of bad ideas.

The global spot price on a barrel of oil is +120.

The private oil companies sell the oil at the market price. They do not set the price, the market does, and the private cos are not the only players.

The private oil companies are not limiting supply. They are not price gouging. Their profits languished for over a decade when oil was under $30 and $20 a barrell.

The state-owned companies are limiting supply, if anyone is (and this is doubtful). Russia's oil companies might as well be state-owned also.

Ad-hoc taxation like this is confiscatory-and counterproductive!! We need the private oil cos to invest in new infrastructure. To find new sources. To unfairly tax them now is to place a disincentive on future production--production that we all desperately need right now.

Would you invest in a business if you knew that once it became profitable the government would come in change the rules and take it?

BTS

momzcrazy

Getting rid of the tax breaks that Bush and the Republican congress gave them would be a good idea though.

OK, so I am new to politics. Why are they getting tax breaks exactly?

momz

Fadeout

BurnTheShips: The private oil companies are not limiting supply. They are not price gouging. Their profits languished for over a decade when oil was under $30 and $20 a barrell.

During that decade I used to send Exxon a $100 check every month because I was thankful I was getting such good prices on gas.

What? Everyone else didn't do this? Well don't I feel like a sucker!

Windfall taxes on Oil Companies - for it or against it?

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