WSJ on Obama’s Winfall Tax
In an editorial over the weekend The Wall Street Journal points out some problems I also mentioned with Sen. Barack Obama’s proposed windfall tax on oil companies and agree with him on the gas tax holiday. They also get to the crux of the issue of high gas prices:
Mr. Obama is right to oppose the gas-tax gimmick, but his idea is even worse. Neither proposal [Clinton’s or McCain’s] addresses the problem of energy supply, especially the lack of domestic oil and gas thanks to decades of Congressional restrictions on U.S. production. Mr. Obama supports most of those “no drilling” rules, but that hasn’t stopped him from denouncing high gas prices on the campaign trail. He is running TV ads in North Carolina that show him walking through a gas station and declaring that he’ll slap a tax on the $40 billion in “excess profits” of Exxon Mobil.
“Windfall Profits for Dummies”
Slapping a tax on oil company profits will convince them to lower their prices; yeah right!