[BitterSweetCrude]

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')we don't have to raise wages if we eliminate corp taxes. if corporate taxes are eliminated then the prices of goods will all go down as corporations cut prices as one of their costs (taxes) is reduced.

[big_rc]

Windfall profit taxes are a very, very dumb idea.

Example:

You owned a house in New Orleans this time last year worth $100,000.

Hurricane Katrina comes and destroys every house in your neighborhood except yours.

Now people are falling over themselves trying to buy your house for $200,000 because housing is pretty scarce these days and people need a place to live.

So you people who believe in windfall profit taxes for the oil companies would sell your house for $100,000 because making that extra $100,000 windfall is "obscene"?

That is the exact same situation that the oil companies find themselves in. (Vastly increased demand in a relatively short amount of time resulting in high prices.)

[BrownDog]

1) Drivers are mad about gasoline prices.
2) So, the government offers to take money from the oil companies.
3) Drivers feel better.

Makes sense to me...

[kerosene]

I might be wrong but I see following:

a) the tax is being used to build up total tax collection and income taxes are eased up with that money to ease consumers' situation. Heh Yeah right. Even if they did - it would be extremely stupid - it would move the balance from paying the price on consumption. Ie it doesn't encourage conservation.

b) the price of oil goes further up. I really don't see how this tax would work. If other countries wouldn't have such taxation wouldn't they be more atractive clients?

c) I wouldn't be worried about investment at this prices. I would remind that the tax breaks were in the 12 Billion range (acording to the earlier post) now go and find Bush's renevables development programs. Their total was something like 60 million or maybe 200 but in totally different range. Yeah we have to get off oil - right.

d) the real solution would be to add a fuel tax. Use that taxt to ease income tax. That way people could have roughly the same amount of money in their hand but fuel would be in relation more expensive / which would help beat down the consumption. Of course some jobs would need exemptions (sp?) etc. to make it work. Because of taxes gas in europe is probably hitting over 7$/gallon (or more) right now and they still drive. One great benefit of that situation is that once things are getting real bad and people already have adjusted their lifestyles and oil shoots to 130$ you can ease the tax burden an the society wouldn't go into such a grinding halt. But could one do it politically in US? HA - give me a break.

[LadyRuby]

This is all a bunch of BS.

If the oil companies are taxed more heavily they'll probably pass as much as they can onto the consumer.

I WANT gas prices to be higher. I WANT incentives to reduce demand for gas. I WANT my government to have more money to fund transit, renewable energy, deficit reduction. I DON'T want the oil companies to use their enormous profits to make life super cushy for their cronies at the top rather than invest heavily in renewable energy.

[grillzilla]

Ok, I've read 3 pages of posts and I have these things to say about what I've read.

First, I work for a small oil company. About 50 people. We always pump as much oil as we can..Always.

We have no choice about the price we get for our oil. Up, down, we still pump as much oil as we can.

We CANT pass on any taxes to the consumer, if we get "winfall taxed" we just lose the money. Ask yourself how many oil companies in the world can withold oil from the market in order to make prices go up. Aramco is probably the only one.

When oil prices were down around $15 bucks we were really dying. Our oil at 28 api was bringing in about $10/bbl. Nobody offered to share our pain. We had to lay good people off. People who needed jobs. Where are they now? I wish we could find them, we really need them.
In fact what we had to do was abandon oil wells, thats right, plug them up. Thousands were abandoned around the U.S. Why? because the states were afraid we would go belly up and leave them with orphaned wells. So, the company I work for had to abandon about a dozen wells a year, cost about $35k to $50k each. Now they are gone, we could have used them to drill side tracks and maybe make more oil, some we could have just turned back on with a little work (and get maybe 10bbl/day) now we have to drill new wells from scratch, $100,000 more expensive.

Somebody reasoned that the oil companies might spend more on R&D (separate from exploration). Well, the vast majority of the R&D staff of all oil companies got the axe during the low oil prices a decade ago. Those R&D types who survived did so by hiring on with oil services compaines. But a tremendous amount of talent was just lost.

What will we do with the extra money? Drill infill wells, buy good equipment, upgrade facilities, get better software, hire people if we can get them. Yeah, we probably dont need tax breaks now, we needed them back then at $15/bbl.

You guys can argue all the econ 101 or 200 you want, this is just my view from the trenches.

[canis_lupus]

yeah. just checking this thread before nappy time.

apparently prairie mule, emerson and ladyruby get the canis_lupus gold star for the day for articulating what's been stirring around in my head all day. thanks for saying it the way you did: there's no other way of saying it.