Oil barons, pay up

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) – I don’t think Big Oil is evil. In fact, unlike the writers of the new movie “Syriana,” I don’t think corporate oil execs are especially corrupt — they’re like you, me and everyone else — just trying to make a buck.

The big difference lately is that they’re making a lot of bucks, and that’s got the attention of the folks on Capitol Hill. A budget and tax package approved by the Senate last month includes a provision that would hit the five biggest energy companies — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, BP and Conoco — with what’s essentially a $5 billion windfall profits tax.
President Bush is now threatening to veto the entire bill, and, predictably enough, the industry is warning the tax provision could have a “chilling effect” on new investment. In the end, the tax hike may not even make it to the president’s desk — the industry’s Republican friends in the House may kill it first.

And that’s too bad. At a time when the country is facing budget deficits of more than $300 billion, the Pentagon is spending $6 billion a month in Iraq and the energy industry has more cash than it literally knows what to do with (Exxon has $30 billion sitting on its balance sheet), Big Oil could certainly afford to put an extra $5 billion into the federal coffers.

Fortune