Posted by
Defend America on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 7:34:16 PM
More Taxes Will Mean Less Oil
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, August 05, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Energy Policy:
Democrats say there should be a limit to the profits oil companies can
make. Should there also be a limit on the taxes government can take?
Just who's the profiteer here?
Part of the article more people should be talking about:
Speaking in support of Obama's proposal to revive the windfall profits
tax, Illinois' senior senator, Dick Durbin, recently declared that,
"The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much
profit they can take in this economy." Why is there no limit to the
increased taxes Obama and the Democrats want to take in this economy?
Obama once called the McCain-supported plan for a gas-tax suspension a
"stunt." Now he wants to take a "reasonable amount" of oil company
profits and rebate, a la George McGovern, $1,000 to families and $500
to individuals as a part of a second stimulus package to offset high
gas prices, a big part of which is federal, state, and local taxes on
both oil producers and consumers.
Obama does not define what a "reasonable amount" is. Nor does he
define at what point profit, which is an indicator of success and not
greed, becomes a windfall. Exxon made a dime on a dollar in 2007. The
oil and gas industry as a whole made 8.3% compared with 8.9% of all
U.S. manufacturing. Meanwhile, the federal government operated at a
huge loss.
Electronics company LG saw its profits grow by 505% in 2007. Abbott
Laboratories saw its profits soar 110% Google had a profit margin of
25.3%, more than double Exxon's. GE's profit was 10.7%, about the same
as Exxon's, but do its subsidiary media outlets such as NBC and MSNBC
report that?
In the first half of this year, Exxon Mobil's after-tax income rose
15% to $22.6 billion. The operative word is "after-tax," for what
advocates of a windfall-profits tax to redistribute income ignore is
that Exxon Mobil also paid a record $61.7 billion in taxes. The feds
already are taking more than a "reasonable amount."
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=302829283496153