Obama Proposal May Levy $15B Tax On Oil Company Profits

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year's profit levels, a campaign adviser said.

The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned- income tax credit and assistance for people who can't afford their energy bills.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[sandiegoconservative]

So the 8 cents per gallon profit the oil companies enjoy will now be cut more so the federal government can enjoy more than the 17.8 cent profit they currently enjoy.

And no doubt the "working families" will include families who don't actually have working adults, but will not include my wife and I who both work for our family.

[Troubledwawa]

Now there's an original idea that makes a whole lot of sense.

Go Obama!

[CindyKay]

Check This Out.

"In the landmark civil fraud case against Bill Clinton in Los Angeles, where the former President is charged with defrauding a Hollywood dot com millionaire to help Hillary Clinton obtain more than $1.2 million from him for her 2000 Senate campaign, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz ruled on Friday, April 25, 2008 that Hillary Clinton would not be required to testify in a sworn deposition as a material witness in the case until AFTER the November election!." (paulvclinton.com)

Here is the kicker - the judge is a Bill Clinton appointee!

[JoDeeVa]

Troll or MonkeyWrench Alert!!

For HOW MANY days and On HOW MANY blog posts must we see this comment? Often not even germane to the topic. We get it.. you don't support Hillary Clinton!

Redundancy becomes meaningless ..say the same thing enough times and it loses its effectiveness!

[drkazmd65]

How about instead - we actually get rid of the Oil Depletion Allowance that allows the oil companies to write of 15% (or more) of the gross income they derive from oil and gas wells from their taxable incomes, and continue to do that for as long as those wells are still producing?

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporate_Welfare/Oil_Tax_Breaks.html

The companies don't need this break, and obviously are making a sh*tload of profit with it. They can afford a bit of a hit in these taxes.

Then - how about we actually make the oil companies pay the royalties that they already owe us for exploiting oil in the US Gulf waters?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/19/MNG3SHQOBQ1.DTL

The federal government back in the 1990s to waive some royalties for companies pumping oil in the gulf's deep water. During the time when oil prices were low this made sense,... now not so much.

Nail them for the laws we already have on the books, and for what they are already bilking us out of before we start coming up with 'new' taxes on them.

[FarOutFish]

I am sorry to burst your bubble, well not really, but the oil depletion allowance was ended in 1974. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; they are not entitled to their own facts.

[drkazmd65]

Also from my first link:

"Introduced in 1926, the oil depletion allowance was restricted in 1975 to independent oil companies that don't refine or import oil. To make up for this, the larger, integrated companies were given the intangible drilling cost deduction, which in some ways is even better."

The more things change,... the more they stay the same.

So - I perhaps should have mentioned instead eliminating the "Intangible Drilling Cost Deduction'. I stand partially corrected.

[drkazmd65]

Oh,... and it was ended in 1975, not 1974 as long as you are going to get nit-picky about what is fact.

[SCharb]

So let's see here...

If oil companies' prices get extravagantly high, they get the bejeezus taxed out of them, and then those taxes go to relieve working families? No gimmicky tax cut?

My faith is restored!

[Pquilson]

Let's see now. Increase taxes on oil companies to make the price of gasoline go down. Therefore, increase the expense to the company, therefore increase the price at the pump to pay said increase in expense. Yes, I can see how that would work.
By the way, Federal tax on gasoline is about 18.5 cents per gallon. Oil company profit per gallon: less than that. Windfall profits? maybe, maybe not.
Increased taxes will definitely not make the price of gasoline go down to consumers.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Well if you consider that the consumer will get a $1000 returned to them, it really makes more sense than just a tax holiday.

[Pquilson]

The article talks about a $1000 tax break for working families. Depends on how one defines tax break and working families.

[ksyellowdog]

me too.

[Namtillaku]

Works for me.