DISQUS

Concerned Citizen · 1 year ago

Let's do away with all the tax breaks big oil gets. That'll show 'em we the people hold all the aces.

That's what those who support such legislative action would have us believe. Too bad, they are wrong. In the end, you and I will make up to big oil what the legislators take away, so any action the congress takes to make big oil pay more in taxes will come out of the pockets of you and me, not big oil.

Don't believe it? The supporters of the bill passed in the house acknowlege that "possibility". That's the way they express it. That "possibility" is really and inevitability. How can anyone who thinks that the evil, greedy, gouging big oil companies would do less? Taxes are part of the overhead of doing business. They get the money to pay those taxes from you and I.

Pay careful attention to the following excerpt from the Washington Post, dated Feb. 28, 2008.

The first two paragraphs make reference to big oil paying. The third references that they "may" pass those taxes along to us. But, so what, it would only cost us an extra cent per gallon at the pump. So what if we end up paying that 1.8 billion, and the oil companies don't. Cheer on those tax increases to big oil, but be careful what you wish for. In the end, you will be paying for them.

"But hours after crude oil hit a new high of $102 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, most lawmakers said they saw no reason why the oil industry couldn't pay an additional $1.8 billion a year in taxes over the next 10 years.

"We don't think it's asking too much to ask them to assist in a partnership to help find out whether there's a better way to meet our energy needs," said Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He called the money raised from the oil giants "grains of sand on the beach."

Supporters of the measure noted that rescinded tax breaks would amount to less than 2 percent of the profits of the five biggest oil companies. Even if the companies were to pass along that entire cost to gasoline consumers, it would amount to about a penny a gallon. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...