Highways Need a Higher Gas Tax

[Jughead]

Taxes are on profit not retail price.

The biggest three publicly owned U.S. oil companies—ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips—also paid relatively low federal effective tax rates in 2011. Reuters reported that their tax payments were “a far cry from the 35 percent top corporate tax rate.” It estimated that ExxonMobil’s effective federal tax rate in 2011 was 13 percent, Chevron’s was 19 percent, and ConocoPhillips’s was 18 percent.

Big Oil Profits?and Tax Breaks?Remain High Despite Sequestration Cuts | Center for American Progress

Correct. Higher prices at the pumps equals more profit for the oil companies, meaning they are paying more in taxes.

Not necessarily. Depends on how many loopholes they can find that year.

You're conflating corporate income taxes with federal taxes directly off the product. It is the latter this thread is about. And that's a fixed rate, so the only thing that varies the end result is the simple absolute number of how many gallons are sold. If that number of gallons does not keep pace with the costs to which the tax is dedicated, then it's a simple matter of costs exceeding available revenue.

It's really not as complex as you're trying to make it here. How much profit an oil company makes does not enter into it.

Encapsulated in the original article:
>> The gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, and during those 21 years it has lost 39 percent of its value to inflation. <<

Would you be willing to work at the same job for the same salary while it stayed fixed and lost 39% of its value? Same thing.

To look at it another way:
Years ago when you paid 99¢ a gallon, 18.4¢ of that purchase went to the Fed. On the other hand if today you pay $3.50 a gallon, 18.4¢ of that purchase goes to the Fed.

See the difference?
Me neither.

Absolutely, the gas tax has indeed been fixed for over 20 years at about 18¢, and now there's debate on increasing it. However, the income tax that these oil companies have been paying since the past two decades has gone up. Previously if gas was 99¢/gallon, they paid significantly less in income taxes than they do now when gas is over $3.00/gallon. What I was getting at was if the government is already getting more revenue off of the oil companies, why the need to raise the gas tax from 18¢?

 

[thereisnospoon]

Revenue from gas taxes has dropped due to more fuel efficient vehicles and less miles being driven by private vehicle owners, no tax hike has been implemented offset this downward trend.

That's a load of crap. Miles driven increases every year.
That revenue drop reported by the political left isn't a drop in revenue at all. They are anticipating a reduction in revenue because they want cover for years of pilfering from the cookie jar.
Like I said...Feel free to write a check. we already pay too much to get around.

Feel free to write a check for the $50 billion the highway trust fund already stole from SS trust fund to cover the highway funding shortfall. It's time to stop mainlining roads until you thugs start squealing.

FYI miles driven & fuel consumption are down.

For Eighth Year in a Row, the Average American Drove Fewer Miles in 2012 | Streetsblog USA
In this link, there is also a little blurb that states the number of miles is a "down tick"...although it also said there was a rise of 0.3% miles driven in 2012.
The Obama economy has a lot of influence on people's driving habits....Fewer people working means fewer miles driven....

 

[Jughead]

Taxes are on profit not retail price.

The biggest three publicly owned U.S. oil companies—ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips—also paid relatively low federal effective tax rates in 2011. Reuters reported that their tax payments were “a far cry from the 35 percent top corporate tax rate.” It estimated that ExxonMobil’s effective federal tax rate in 2011 was 13 percent, Chevron’s was 19 percent, and ConocoPhillips’s was 18 percent.

Big Oil Profits?and Tax Breaks?Remain High Despite Sequestration Cuts | Center for American Progress

Correct. Higher prices at the pumps equals more profit for the oil companies, meaning they are paying more in taxes.

Increase sales increase profit not higher gas prices. The higher prices are due to the higher cost of feed stock to the refineries, aka crude oil prices. Furthermore taxes generated by any business should go into the general fund not the highway fund. Now if you want to take money from the general fund and put it in the Highway fund, I'm okay with that but I like the idea of users paying for the services they receive.

When gas goes from 99¢/gallon to around $3.50/gallon in the span of 12 years, after accounting for inflation, and the higher costs, I'd still bet that a good portion of that increase is profit.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Mileage tax opens the door for politicians to keep increasing tax/fee.
I'm guessing what would pass is a fee and not a tax so it would be open for increases readily.

And as with any other tax, the federal fuel tax will not be replaced. it will remain and the mileage tax will be another example of double taxation.

 

[Pogo]

Correct. Higher prices at the pumps equals more profit for the oil companies, meaning they are paying more in taxes.

Not necessarily. Depends on how many loopholes they can find that year.

You're conflating corporate income taxes with federal taxes directly off the product. It is the latter this thread is about. And that's a fixed rate, so the only thing that varies the end result is the simple absolute number of how many gallons are sold. If that number of gallons does not keep pace with the costs to which the tax is dedicated, then it's a simple matter of costs exceeding available revenue.

It's really not as complex as you're trying to make it here. How much profit an oil company makes does not enter into it.

Encapsulated in the original article:
>> The gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, and during those 21 years it has lost 39 percent of its value to inflation. <<

Would you be willing to work at the same job for the same salary while it stayed fixed and lost 39% of its value? Same thing.

To look at it another way:
Years ago when you paid 99¢ a gallon, 18.4¢ of that purchase went to the Fed. On the other hand if today you pay $3.50 a gallon, 18.4¢ of that purchase goes to the Fed.

See the difference?
Me neither.

Absolutely, the gas tax has indeed been fixed for over 20 years at about 18¢, and now there's debate on increasing it. However, the income tax that these oil companies have been paying since the past two decades has gone up. Previously if gas was 99¢/gallon, they paid significantly less in income taxes than they do now when gas is over $3.00/gallon. What I was getting at was if the government is already getting more revenue off of the oil companies, why the need to raise the gas tax from 18¢?

Sorry Jugs, that doesn't make sense. First, the fact that the retail price of a commodity rises tells us nothing about what the company's profit has done; they're not the ones raising the price. Their final profit could be higher, lower or stay the same. Second, as others have pointed out already, corporate income tax isn't apportioned the way a dedicated fuel tax is. It's two different revenue streams. You're conflating two different unrelated taxes. The one focused on here has not changed in 21 years, while the costs of everything has.

Unless the tax was set way too high 21 years ago, that means a shortfall if revenue stays steady, simply because what cost 18.4 cents in 1993 costs 30.3 cents now.

 

[Pogo]

Correct. Higher prices at the pumps equals more profit for the oil companies, meaning they are paying more in taxes.

Increase sales increase profit not higher gas prices. The higher prices are due to the higher cost of feed stock to the refineries, aka crude oil prices. Furthermore taxes generated by any business should go into the general fund not the highway fund. Now if you want to take money from the general fund and put it in the Highway fund, I'm okay with that but I like the idea of users paying for the services they receive.

When gas goes from 99¢/gallon to around $3.50/gallon in the span of 12 years, after accounting for inflation, and the higher costs, I'd still bet that a good portion of that increase is profit.

Oil companies don't set those prices, any more than the President does. The international market sets them. What sends prices up (like a rocket) and down (like a feather) is that market -- not the oil companies. They'll always profit what they can, but a rising price at the pump doesn't produce it.

 

[Pogo]

18.3(?) Cents in fed taxes has been steady for that long

Sometime in the 2000s Georgia raised their gas tax by 30 cents a gallon.

I'm sure it's Obama's fault.

Uhh.....Georgia's gasoline tax is broken down as such
7.5% excise tax. 21.5 cents other taxes... or 29 cents per gallon. So by your statement, GA's gas tax was MINUS one cent per gallon?
This is not the first time I have busted you in a bald faced lie.
Not only are you a liberal. You are a lying sack of shit liberal. Which makes you a candidate for a leadership position of your ideology.

As noted earlier, Georgia's gas tax varies with the retail price. They set it up that way so they don't have the same problem as the article in this topic.

>> ... the state gas tax automatically increases when the price of gasoline increases.

... The tax in Georgia is a flat 7.5-cents per gallon, plus an amount based on price. The part based on price is set on Jan. 1 and July 1 and goes up between those dates when the price of gas rises by more than 25 percent. (here) <<​

 

[Jughead]

Not necessarily. Depends on how many loopholes they can find that year.

You're conflating corporate income taxes with federal taxes directly off the product. It is the latter this thread is about. And that's a fixed rate, so the only thing that varies the end result is the simple absolute number of how many gallons are sold. If that number of gallons does not keep pace with the costs to which the tax is dedicated, then it's a simple matter of costs exceeding available revenue.

It's really not as complex as you're trying to make it here. How much profit an oil company makes does not enter into it.

Encapsulated in the original article:
>> The gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, and during those 21 years it has lost 39 percent of its value to inflation. <<

Would you be willing to work at the same job for the same salary while it stayed fixed and lost 39% of its value? Same thing.

To look at it another way:
Years ago when you paid 99¢ a gallon, 18.4¢ of that purchase went to the Fed. On the other hand if today you pay $3.50 a gallon, 18.4¢ of that purchase goes to the Fed.

See the difference?
Me neither.

Absolutely, the gas tax has indeed been fixed for over 20 years at about 18¢, and now there's debate on increasing it. However, the income tax that these oil companies have been paying since the past two decades has gone up. Previously if gas was 99¢/gallon, they paid significantly less in income taxes than they do now when gas is over $3.00/gallon. What I was getting at was if the government is already getting more revenue off of the oil companies, why the need to raise the gas tax from 18¢?

Sorry Jugs, that doesn't make sense. First, the fact that the retail price of a commodity rises tells us nothing about what the company's profit has done; they're not the ones raising the price. Their final profit could be higher, lower or stay the same. Second, as others have pointed out already, corporate income tax isn't apportioned the way a dedicated fuel tax is. It's two different revenue streams. You're conflating two different unrelated taxes. The one focused on here has not changed in 21 years, while the costs of everything has.

Unless the tax was set way too high 21 years ago, that means a shortfall if revenue stays steady, simply because what cost 18.4 cents in 1993 costs 30.3 cents now.

The oil industry is perhaps the fastest growing industry and very beneficial to the economy. If we put aside the fuel tax for now, and look at profits generated by the oil companies, and the gas prices, there is indeed a relationship. When gas prices rise, profits rise. Here are some charts which illustrate the relationship between oil company profits and gas prices ...

So the government is getting more revenue off of the oil companies. I realize that the fuel tax is independent of the income tax that the oil companies pay to the government. I still don't believe the fuel tax should go up.

 

[Jughead]

Increase sales increase profit not higher gas prices. The higher prices are due to the higher cost of feed stock to the refineries, aka crude oil prices. Furthermore taxes generated by any business should go into the general fund not the highway fund. Now if you want to take money from the general fund and put it in the Highway fund, I'm okay with that but I like the idea of users paying for the services they receive.

When gas goes from 99¢/gallon to around $3.50/gallon in the span of 12 years, after accounting for inflation, and the higher costs, I'd still bet that a good portion of that increase is profit.

Oil companies don't set those prices, any more than the President does. The international market sets them. What sends prices up (like a rocket) and down (like a feather) is that market -- not the oil companies. They'll always profit what they can, but a rising price at the pump doesn't produce it.

See above charts for relationship between profits and gas prices ...

 

[Jarlaxle]

The hell wth more gas taxes...Tax the bloated rich and oil companies their fair share, and pass an infrastructure/jobs act. After 30 year of give the rich and corporations and investment in the country a pass, our roads and bridges, ports, railroads and airports are a mess...

you rock Frankie.....

No, dude...he just has ROCKS in his HEAD!