President Obama, as he campaigned for president in 2008, told people across the country that if they elected him president he would enact a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry. He said the money would be used to help people pay their energy bills.
Within 48 hours of being elected, President Obama dropped the promise from his agenda. An "unnamed transition team staffer" tried to justify the decision by stating, "President-elect Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel. They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."
Well, oil is back up far above $80 per barrel, so where is Obama's windfall profits tax?
Prior to the 2008 presidential election, President Obama's promise to implement the tax was displayed prominently at the top of the "Economy" section of the Obama-Biden campaign website. On November 6, President-elect Obama rolled out his transition website, Change.gov, which also displayed the promise, before it disappeared two days later.
I challenge anyone to find video or any mention by President Obama himself explaining why he dropped that promise. Moreover, it went virtually unreported by the mainstream media.
It doesn't seem appropriate for President Obama to campaign every day on an issue that directly impacts all Americans and then drop it without explanation. Now, gas prices are about to jump to all-time record highs, and of course the oil and gas industry will rake in record profits.
To make matters worse, the government is going to start taxing people that have lost their jobs and are trying to make a living selling their property on eBay. And yet Exxon Mobil paid zero dollars in federal income tax in 2009. How are people not rising up in opposition to this?
President Obama had a good idea in 2008, but obviously the oil and gas industry and their lobbyists got to him. We need to keep the oil and gas industry from gouging the hardworking, taxpaying American people while making record profits. It is unbelievable that president Obama and Congress are going to let the oil and gas industry charge us record high prices at the pump, make record profits and not pay their fair share of taxes.
President Obama needs to keep his 2008 campaign promise and pass a windfall profits tax on oil and gas industry. It will help keep the price of gas down, boost the economy and raise revenue to balance the budget.