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13 Nov 2008 11:11 am

The Windfall Tax Danger

Robert Rapier disagrees with parts of Obama's energy plan:

The oil industry does make big profits, but they are also already one of the most heavily taxed industries. And their tax payments to governments increase along with their profits. There has been a lot of coverage given to the record profits being made by the oil companies, but much less to the record windfalls in the form of taxes that governments have received over the past few years as a result.

And don't forget that we have experimented with a windfall profits tax before. It raised far less revenue than anticipated, and caused investment to fall...

I don't think there is any doubt that a windfall profits tax won't help add to supplies. And refunding it back to consumers sends the wrong message: If gas prices go up, the government will protect you by taking the money from the oil companies and giving it back to you. Where is the incentive for the consumer to conserve? For the oil companies themselves, the likely impact would be that foreign earnings wouldn't be repatriated back to the U.S., and would just be reinvested overseas. For that matter, a steep windfall profits tax would provide incentive for U.S. oil companies to simply relocate overseas.

Look: Palin is for windfall taxes. Obama shouldn't be.

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