Oil Price Gouging, But It's NOT Just The Oil Companies

[Annie]

Anyone surprised?

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2005/10/gas_taxes_excee.html

Gas Taxes Exceed Oil Companies' Profits

Tax_foundation_9With BP, Exxon-Mobil, and Shell reporting record profits, the Tax Foundation reminds us in its latest Fiscal Fact that the biggest beneficiaries of gasoline sales are federal and state governments, not the oil industry:

High gas prices and strong oil company earnings have generated a rash of new tax proposals in recent months. Some lawmakers have called for new “windfall profits” taxes—similar to the one signed into federal law in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter—that would tax the profits of major oil companies at a rate of 50%. Meanwhile, many commentators have voiced support for the idea of increasing gas taxes to keep the price of gasoline at post-Katrina highs, thereby reducing gas consumption. However, often ignored in this debate is the fact that oil industry profits are highly cyclical, making them just as prone to “busts” as to “booms.” Additionally, tax collections on the production and import of gasoline by state and federal governments are already near historic highs. In fact, in recent decades governments have collected far more revenue from gasoline taxes than the largest U.S. oil companies have collectively earned in domestic profits....

[F]ederal and state taxes on gasoline production and imports have been climbing steadily since the late 1970s and now total roughly $58.4 billion. Due in part to substantial hikes in the federal gasoline excise tax in 1983, 1990, and 1993, annual tax revenues have continued to grow. Since 1977, governments collected more than $1.34 trillion, after adjusting for inflation, in gasoline tax revenues—more than twice the amount of domestic profits earned by major U.S. oil companies during the same period:

chart at site.

 

[manu1959]

a call BS....they virtually lost money for 18 years....they finally get their shit together and make some money and now they are gouging....

 

[Annie]

a call BS....they virtually lost money for 18 years....they finally get their shit together and make some money and now they are gouging....

Why don't the conservatives get pissed at the government? What about the liberals?

 

[manu1959]

Why don't the conservatives get pissed at the government? What about the liberals?

where do their pay checks come from.....no sense biting the hand that feeds them

 

[Annie]

where do their pay checks come from.....no sense biting the hand that feeds them

Yah, that is what I was thinking.

 

[manu1959]

Yah, that is what I was thinking.

pays for all their pork barrell crap as well which gets the re-elected....tobacco industry helps foot the bill as well....

 

[Annie]

pays for all their pork barrell crap as well which gets the re-elected....tobacco industry helps foot the bill as well....

Can you think of another lobby as hated?

 

[manu1959]

Can you think of another lobby as hated?

gun lobby?....booze?.....genetic engineering?....the BAR

 

[Annie]

gun lobby?....booze?.....genetic engineering?....the BAR

Not even close...

 

[Mr. P]

Can you think of another lobby as hated?

Banking/Credit card lobby..But the people just don't know it yet.
They were the force behind the new Bankrupcy laws.

 

[dilloduck]

Banking/Credit card lobby..But the people just don't know it yet.
They were the force behind the new Bankrupcy laws.

Agreed--just wait til they demand larger payments and jack up some more percentage rates.

 

[007]

High gas prices and strong oil company earnings have generated a rash of new tax proposals in recent months. Some lawmakers have called for new “windfall profits” taxes—similar to the one signed into federal law in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter—that would tax the profits of major oil companies at a rate of 50%.

This doesn't surprize me. This country is driven by greed, and there isn't any more of a greedy entity than the government. And when there's a golden cow like oil, there's going to be crocked shit going on, on both sides. One hand greasing the other.

 

[KarlMarx]

The fact that taxes make up the biggest chunk of gasoline doesn't surprise those of us who live in the Socialist Republic of New York.

Last month, I was working with a consultant who commuted to New York from New Jersey and he was shocked at the price of gasoline in New York. We were used to paying over $3.00 a gallon for gasoline while he was filling his gas tank at home for about 40-50 cents per gallon less.