Surprise! Obama May Levy $15 Billion Tax on Oil Company Profit

[DoctorDoom]

Are taxes the only thing those loathsome, despicable RAT assholes can contemplate?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year's profit levels, a campaign adviser said.

The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned- income tax credit and assistance for people who can't afford their energy bills.

``The profits right now are so remarkable that one could trim them 10 percent or so, which would turn out to be somewhere in the $15 billion range,'' said Jason Grumet, an adviser to the Obama campaign.

Obama's plan may be three times larger than the $50 billion, 10-year plan contemplated by his Democratic rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Republican candidate John McCain, an Arizona senator, has no plan to raise oil and gas industry taxes, said his economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.Obama May Levy $15 Billion Tax on Oil Company Profit (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aP_1wrIyt1Nc)

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[Kathy30]

He's stupid, or democrats are stupid or both.

What happens to the money collected as a tax? Does it reduce the price? No. Does it raise the price as the tax is passed on to the consumer? Yes. What does the government do with the money collected as a tax? Who knows.

[oldcoastie]

What a moron. Just when I think he's uttered his stupidest comment, a worse one spews forth from the wisdom of his years of experience and leadership.

[Neil Peart]

The socialist moron doesn't realize that if it weren't for profit, these people wouldn't be in business at all. Does he want to destroy business?

[Suzie]

We will never survive with this man as president.

[DoctorDoom]

He and the Bitch Queen are cut from the same cloth. Who recalls this?

[snip]

I think it is time for us to step up and say we are going to change the way Washington works. I've laid out very specific plans about how to do that. I'm going to take $10 billion away from a lot of these industries, starting with money from the HMOs that are getting too much out of Medicare, starting with the no-bid contracts for Halliburton; starting with the defense industry that needs to be pared down and reined in. I've been very clear about that. And I intend to implement that."

So Mrs. Clinton basically owned up and admitted -- what would you call this? This goes beyond socialism. "I'm going to take $10 billion away from these industries." This is in addition to the $35 billion she said she was going to take away from Big Oil. ExxonMobil announced those profits, "I want to take those profits. I want to convert 'em into the discovery and the research into alternative fuel sources." So here she's admitting, "I'm going to take $10 billion from these industries," after Edwards goes through every one of them that are contributing more to her than anybody else. "I'm going to take $10 billion from those industries." Folks, this is just too much. Mrs. Clinton Will "Take Away" $10 Billion from Private Industry (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_103107/content/01125107.guest.html)

Neither one of those buttwads is fit to be a ditch-digger, let alone the POTUS. They are fascists.

[PrezLeefun]

A democrat wants to raise taxes???? ya dont say. YA DONT SAY!

[Suzie]

Obama says Clinton, McCain wrong on gas taxes (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_el_pr/democrats;_ylt=AmsKbeMxJsxrFQNoOmfO3Aas0NUE)

[Lazarus]

..."I'm going to take $10 billion away from these industries." This is in addition to the $35 billion she said she was going to take away from Big Oil. ExxonMobil announced those profits, "I want to take those profits.

She's real good at taking what isn't her's to take... She's a Marxist in the purest sense... And just as utterly clueless...

[Beowulf]

$35 billion she said she was going to take away from Big Oil
Go ahead, Hitlery! Everyone in turn will see a $35 billion dollar price increase hidden in the form of higher prices on various other items they produce. Gas will suddenly become more expensive to refine is one that comes to mind AND GUESS WHO WILL PAY THE DIFFERENCE, HITLERY!

[The_Sonarman]

You all get an A+ for seeing through the idiocy of taxing "profits".

Guess what else happens when oil companies "profits" are taken away? Much of that profit is immediately plowed right back into new exploration and new production for new oil. That means the current high gasoline and high oil prices go on and on and on.

I notice neither Obama nor Hitlary are pledging to return that taxed money to "We The People". They're going to spend it on yet more government "programs" which are universal failures.

[roguemerc]

Wait a minute, I thought that the oil companies ALREADY paid taxes. I was not aware that oil companies pay NO TAXES WHATSOEVER! :rotflmbo:

[Naturalized-Texan]

The oil companies will merely pass on those increased taxes to us consumers in the form of higher gasoline prices. They won't lose a penny in profit.

BTW, the 1st Quarter profit margin for Exxon was only 9.3% (down from 10.4% for 2007) and for Chevron was only 8.0%. Those are mid-range to low-mid-range profit margins when compared to other successful businesses.

[DeclinetoState]

Any time the government taxes the rich man, he will simply find a way to make the poor man pay it. Loopholes, which are all too common every time a tax "increase" is passed, make it easier, but even if they don't exist, there are many other ways for the wealthy to avoid paying higher taxes (unless they want to), such as buying luxury goodies overseas.

[Wyatt_Junker]

Obama's a genius. I bet he taxes his wife too for the bad sex. Whenever she just lays there and doesn't fake it.

Obama is very taxing.

Its difficult to be around him. He's the guy when the check comes at the restaurant, he conveniently 'went to the bathroom' and then proceeds to take a 5 hour shit hoping that you'll just give in and put it on your American Express.

Yes, very very taxing to be around a guy like that.