Posted by
Average Voter on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 6:51:50 PM
Even the liberal paper the
Washington Post is in agreement with most other people of normal intelligence; this Obama plan to tax the oil companies and pay to the citizens is what most people would call a
'gimmick'.
Making Exxon surrender money that is now falling into its lap would not necessarily affect its longer-term plans or incentives. Indeed, some of Big Oil's "windfall" already will go to the government: The more profit the companies earn, the more corporate income tax they pay. But to add a five-year tax increase on top of that to pay for a one-year gift to voters would, indeed, increase the cost of doing business. That cost would be passed along in forgone investment in new production, lower dividends for pension funds and other shareholders, and higher prices at the pump -- thus socking it to the consumers whom the plan is supposed to help. If oil prices fall, there might be no windfall profits to tax. Then the Obama rebate would have to be paid for through spending cuts, taxes on something else or borrowing.
Taxing a company that supplies us with a product that we use and need will always get passed on to us ...it is not super-hard economics here.