Clinton: Let Uncle Sam Determine Profits
Hillary Clinton was on Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor last night and said what she would do about high gas prices:
In the short term, I do want a gas tax holiday but to pay for it by putting a windfall profits tax on the oil companies.... The oil companies have made out like bandits, and there is no basis for them to have these huge profits. They're not inventing anything new.... You set a baseline and, above that baseline, you begin to tax their profits.
As they say on my favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica, "All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again." We tried a windfall profits tax in 1980, with lousy results. This from the Tax Foundation (boldface mine):
During the 1980s the federal government experimented with a new tax intended to limit the "windfall profits" of domestic oil companies. In reaction to the rise of energy prices during the late 1970s and the removal of price controls on the energy industry, President Jimmy Carter signed the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act into effect on April 2, 1980.... The windfall profits tax was forecasted to raise more than $320 billion between 1980 and 1989. However, according to the Congressional Research Service, the government collected only $80 billion in gross tax revenue ($146 billion in 2004 dollars). The net amount was actually less than this—roughly $40 billion—because the tax was deductible...CRS also found the windfall profits tax had the effect of decreasing domestic production by 3 percent to 6 percent, thereby increasing American dependence on foreign oil sources by 8 percent to 16 percent.... The 1980 windfall profits tax was also found to be highly burdensome for the industry to comply with and for the Internal Revenue Service to administer, especially in years when no revenue was raised. It seems unlikely that a new tax could be designed in a less burdensome fashion. Tax Foundation economists estimate that U.S. companies currently spend nearly $150 billion annually to comply with the federal income tax alone.
Tags: taxes | Hillary Clinton | gas prices | corporate taxes
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I think the key point in that interview was when O'Reilly confronted Hillary on her voting record when it came to energy policy (she voted against a bill to allow drilling in ANWR and against nuclear energy). She, of course, did not answer the question, and O'Reilly, normally a hard hitter, let her skate by. He gave some reason as to why she let her skirt when he was talking to Miller, but I think it was weak. If he is committed to holding the politicians feet to the fire, he should have raked her over the coals on that point.
oil taxes
It seems so easy to make talking points about profits, to a public who has no idea
about the difference between a profit or a profit margin. What rubish.
O'Reilly
He sems to be so impressed with his own importance, I am reminded of the phrase ( If I could buy him for what he is worth and sell him for what he thinks he is worth, I would be able to buy Warren Buffet)
Excess Profits Tax
As an independent, I was in the lease and right-of-way acquisition branch of the oil business in 1980 when the excess profits tax was imposed. By 1986 new areas for exploratory drilling were almost non-existent. In fill drilling (wells in proven fields) had been pretty much limited to leases that would expire unless drilled. Low production wells were plugged, drilling rigs sat in yards rusting, leases were let lapse by non-payment of rentals, new refinery plans were put in the "maybe some day" file and I had to find a new line to apply my skills. Fortunately, a lot of new fiber optic cables required right-of-way and booster station acquisition. I left my oil business office. Present conditions can be directly laid at the feet of "excess profits" the theory for which completely ingores profit margin.
Daniel David
My oh my Daniel David......The "racists" attacking Obama? You are kidding right? I can't tell sometimes with satire and all. Daniel, you are the type of "amerikan" that absolutely terrifies me and makes me worry for the security and future of both my country and family. Daniel, I would propose that the true racists are the church associates of Mr. Obama and the Rev. Wright. And if Obama sat in the pew listening to his spiritual "mentor" what does that make him? If a white man had said 1/500 of 1% what the Rev. Wright said he would be labeled something just short of the KKK Grand Dragon Wizard (or whatever they call themselves). Look in the mirror Daniel and if you get a chance, ask Obama to as well.
taxes and prices
In business, higher taxes = higher cost. Higher cost = higher prices. HOW does this benefit the consumer?
taxes and prices
In business, higher taxes = higher cost. Higher cost = higher prices. HOW does this benefit the consumer?
Hillary's lack of understanding of Profit/Profit Margin
Hillary is like most folks educated in goverment schools. She couldn't tell you the difference between a profit and a profit margin. No one talks about profit margins because they have not been educated well. Say your company makes widgits and sells them for $10. The widgit costs you $8 to make so you profit $2 on each sale giving you a $2 profit and a 20% profit margin. Then your supplier raises the cost of materials and now it costs you $16 to make the same widgit so you raise the price of your widgit to $20. So each sale you now make $4 and according to Hillary you just doubled your profits but your profit margin remains at 20%. Yes you have made more money in theory but your profit margin is the same. This isn't "making out like a bandit, its good economics and smart business. In Hillary's world you should continue to sell the widgit at $10 'for the people'! She as most in Washington believe, it is the government's money not the corporation's money.
In the case of "Big Oil" , I think we need to look at "Return on Investment" or "Return on Capital". The amount of money spent on technology and drilling is astronomical. Oh, and that doesn't even mean you are going to have a successful well. Lots of dry holes out there, but no one talks about that.
The "Oil Business" is a risky one, expensive, and cyclical. Folks like to think the big oil companies are "sticking it to them", but I don't think any of them have an appreciation for what it takes to be in the business, nor do any of them have the stomach for it.
Bill & Hillary have made how much money since 2000?
If anything, we need a "windfall profit tax" against politicians.
Sorry Paul, you're wrong
Hillary is a smart woman. She knows full well all about profits and margins. She also knows how to whip her voters into a frenzy. The people who supprot her fall into 2 catagories for the most part. 1)The poor and uneducated who envy the rich and powerful, ans 2) the rich and powerful who desire to rule over and at the expense of the filthy poor. Unfortunately, it is a lot easier to convince the poor and uneducated that all their problems are the fault of some rich businessman than it is to convince them they are being sold down the river by snake oil salesmen.
Hillary's basis is wrong
"They're not inventing anything new." - This statement indicates a total lack of understanding of the issue. The oil industry regularly invents new equipment to find, produce , and process oil. It is probable the highest technology non-governmental industry in the world.
Since people have no idea what goes into producing a barrel of oil or converting that oil to gasoline most of these inventions are totally outside thier frame of reference, that does not make them insignificant. They allow the production of
fields previously not possible due to depth, temperature, or economics.
A couple of facts:
The deepest part of many oil wells is drilled horizontal not vertical. (Usually the horizontal part of a well is limited to a mile or two.)
The most energy efficient land transport system in the US is the Oil Industries pipeline system. (energy/ton-mile)
The most energy efficient international transport system in the world is the Super-Tanker,
A 42 gallon barrel of oil flows into a refinery. How much product is produced?
Answer forty four gallons. This is because the crew "not inventing anything new." invented uses for all the nasty byproducts lett over when they had extracted the product they wanted out of the crude. The nastyest by-product when Standard Oil was broken up was gasoline. Big Oil got it's bad rep. back when it was selling kerocene for lamps and hasn't ever been able to shake it.
Soak Google instead
Profit Margin:
Google - 24.86%
Exxon - 11.23%
Which provides more jobs, creates more tangible wealth, and pays more in taxes?
Soak Google?
Why soak anyone, business or individual?
Barrack wants to raise capital gains taxes even though it would generate less revenue... because two or three hundred hedge fund managers earn over $50 million each year and pay cap-gains rate instead of income rate of taxes. He thinks that’s unfair so he would rather increase that rate on the tens of millions of investors that are trying to build a savings nest egg.
Hillary wants a "windfall profits" tax on business to 'pay for' a highway use tax that would be removed temporarily.
Why not simply abolish the current tax system and adopt the FAIRTAX. That way Barrack would have what he says he wants, a "fair" tax system that equally taxes everyone... but not on what they earn, save or accrue, but on what they consume.
Read about the tax reform bill in congress that has over SIX DOZEN cosponsors. Go to FairTax.Org
Tax the rich to feed the poor?
I am sorry - but the socialist leanings by Hillary Clinton on this is too much to bear.
This country is based on what is called free enterprise....taxing the rich because they made money is a thinly veiled attempt at establishing a socialist order.
That is not what the US is about.
Plus, while the oil companies make record profits, the federal government is ALSO making record income through the taxes on the gasoline and diesel.
Better government through less government. Assume responsibility for your own personal freedoms.
Fair Tax
Why don't we, at least, try the National Retail Sales tax for one year. If the thing is as bad as the opposition says it is, this should be apparent right away and we can simply go back to what we had before. Also, why can't we drill ANWR just to depress world oil prices? If the environmentalists object, erect buildings for them near the drill sites so they can monitor the drilling, if any mess occurs, they dial up the press. Once we get operations rolling, when the world oil prices come down, we close up shop and post the military up there until we need to "turn it on" again.
Hillary Clinton & Profit Margins
I would love to vote for Hillary (or any Dem or that matter) if they could do just one thing for me: Define what windfall profits are! She can't and she wont! She has only two choices: She can define it by a specific amount of profit ....or define it by a percentage of profit.
Right now, the dems are teaching americans that the AMOUNT oil biz has been making is a windfall and so unfair to their lives. Forget that the these companies are owned by shareholders...thats irrelevant. Forget that Exxon is the largest company in the world....thats irrelvant. Forget that their profit margins have not increased...thats irrelevant. Apparently, that profit number is too big regardless of how much product they sold. But if Hillary defines windfalls as a specific figure, that will leave hundres of other companies with similar amounts to pale back their sales to avoid the windfall tax. GE made $22B profit in 2007. Bank of America made $15B profit in 2007, and Citigroup made $22B profit in 2006.
But then if she defines windfall profits as a percentage, she opens up evenmore doors to industries that make even more than anyone in america can imagine. Exxon's profit margin has been pretty steady at 10%. That doesn't seem too much. Coca-Cola makes 2 times as much profit at 20.5% and has for the past 10 years! Microsoft has a 28% profit margin and that is down almost 100% where it use to be at almost 50%. Pittsburg & WV Railroad has a 85% profit margin. Knightsbridge Tankers has a 96% profit margin!!! Are these percentages too much as determined by the federal governement?
Is it a number or percentage that is the problem? Either way, it's a losing proposition for any democrat to define which is why they never will. She is merely saying it to "buy" votes.
Nanny State
Hillary, Obama and the rest of the left (and unfortunately an increasing number of those on the right) want the government to be the be-all and end-all to all "problems of the people". In reality, the government is the "create-all" of our problems. When the people of this country (rich and poor alike) wake up from their utopian dreams and realize that they've traded their liberty and freedom for a Marxist state, I wonder how many will have the nerve to stand up to the government as our founders did and say NO MORE!! That is assuming we actually have the means to fight back since they want to take our guns away, and the faith to believe that God created us in His image and endowed us with these truths that we hold to be self-evident, given that we are driving faith out of our lives.
I for one want one simple thing, that is for the government to GET OUT of my life, my business and livelihood, and my bank account. If they would do that, I can assure you that I would never be in need of a Nanny to fix my problems. Instead, I get the privelege of paying double taxes because I am self-employed, and trying to guess how much flesh the IRS will want each year.
The answer to our energy problems is really quite simple, although it would take some time to realize. Drill in ANWR, the Gulf and anywhere else we know we have oil available. Announce to OPEC and Chavez and any of the other tyrants that we will be decreasing our reliance on them and watch how fast they ratchet up production and drop the price!
Marxist Drivel Again from this Vile Shrew
The Marxist drivel that this vile woman spews is terrifying for true Americans. How anyone can take this Communist disciple of the radical Marxist Saul Alinsky seriously is beyond me.
This dingbat clearly has no clue of how an economy works and would have been more at home in the old Soviet Politburo than in Washington DC.
Sadly, American women will vote for this virago in droves - simply because she is a woman. If this miserable lying Trotskyite ever gets into office, it will be a disaster for the United States of America.
If she gets in, fly your flag upside down and stockpile food!
Windfall profits on others
When are the dems going to have a windfall tax on book deals or speaking engagements? It looks like Obama & Hillary both
" ... have made out like bandits, and there is no basis for them to have these huge profits. They're not inventing anything new.."
No to mention the huge profits that Bill Clinton to give a speech.
A complete lack of understanding
Profit vs. Profit Margin.
How does somebody get to the point of running for president and not understand a concept from econ 101.
What are they teaching at Wellesley College and Yale?
Tax Mrs. Clinton's Windfall Profits
When Mrs. Clinton first arrived in Washington, she was a person of modest wealth. Now, I understand that the Clintons' net worth is over $100 million dollars. Perhaps it is time to tax the Clintons' windfall profits.
Of course Hillary knows the difference
Unfortunately, the millions who fall for her Marxist drivel do not know the difference between gross profit and a profit margin. They honestly believe that taxing the hell out of oil companies somehow will make them better off. Most have either forgotten the failed energy/economic policies of the ‘70s, or are too young to remember. And it’s not like most people are educated about the difference in most schools.
If you need a better example of the failure of public education in this country, I can’t imagine what it might be.
More Taxes
If I had any say in it, I'd say Close Down let them get thier oil from Arabs at a much higher price. Its not like they need the money or something. They are allready Rich and Nasty people remember?
To Tax Tax Tax these companies to death is "NOT" going to do anything to help, only BUY votes for these Polititians because the DumbMasses out there havnt a clue of whats goin on.
No Oil Windfall Profits No Hillary Clinton Too
She told lie for the election of US president!
Communism didn't die
with the Soviet Union. Hillary and her disgusting leftist cronies are keeping it alive.
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Mrs. Clinton and her "campaign"
It's worse than AMAZING that Hillary can be spinning her imaginary "solutions" for the 2008 summer oil crisis---and beating Barack over the head for not going along, with primary elections just days away---when Bush is still actually the president, and he's not going to sign a windfall profits tax right now any more than he's going to levitate off the ground. The insincerety and trickery of this talk is truly stunning.
Yet, after the racists get done crucifying Barack, Hillary is the only poor choice we liberals have left. And, yes, we will rally behind her and elect her if necessary to avoid the 3rd, 4th and 5th terms of Bush in the form of McCain and Huckabee (or whoever).
May 01, 2008 13:23:55 PM [permalink] [report comment]