ASBL States, "Obama Drops Windfall Profits Tax for Oil and Gas Industry"

The American Small Business League (ASBL) released the following video via YouTube this morning. In it the ASBL's Director of Government Affairs Kevin Baron reads the ASBL's recent press release regarding the Obama-Biden Transition Team's decision to drop its campaign promise to institute a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry.

The ASBL's Press release stated,

"President-elect Barack Obama has removed any reference of his promise to implement a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from the Obama-Biden Transition Team website, www.change.gov.


During the course of the 2008 presidential election, the Obama campaign called for a windfall profits tax on the oil industry as a means of subsidizing a $1,000 "emergency" rebate for consumers struggling with surging gas prices. However www.change.gov, which houses the Obama-Biden transition agenda, was recently cleansed of any mention of such a tax. "

Click here to view the press release.

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Comments

[BarackstarObama]

Gas prices are way down, and the oil companies are losing their collective behinds with the market downturn. LOL

[kevlar0076]

My major concern would be if Obama decided to scrap the windfall profits tax because he was bowing to pressure from the oil and gas industry. Certain "big businesses" weild quite a power, the oil and gas industry included, so it would be interesting to know if they contacted Obama and gave him an offer he could not refuse to drop the issue.

Along the same lines as the others...Hey Obama, if I start a business and run it into the ground because I am completely incompetent and affraid to change the old business model that no longer works, can I have $25 billion to bail me out, although I would settle for only $18.5 billion.

[wisewomcat]

This sounds pretty reasonable­...conside­ring that we are no longer suffering from higher fuel prices. But then again, I was never a fan of the windfall profit tax anyways. Imagine all the investors that would lose money if that happened. It just doesn't seem fair to take some company's money after the fact because you arbitrarily decided that they made too much. Unless they find some proof that the oil companies acted inappropriately, I say let them keep their money.

And along the same lines of the other comment here...hey Obama, if I get start selling some great product this next year that makes me a millionaire, are you going to come take it all away from me? No, of course not.

[follyeoa]

I think the biggest problem with windfall taxes is determining what constitutes a windfall. We often see astounding dollar figures in the oil and gas industry profit numbers, but if this sum represents a small percentage of their investment then there is no true windfall.

[mcthfg]

Weak.

Change, as in "The middle class will get change, while the upper class gets big bailouts."

POTUS-Elect Obama, if I go to Vegas and loose all my money gambling, will you bail me out as well?