Should the US government impose a wind-fall Oil profits tax?

I'll post my own thoughts later as I mull the issue and consider the arguments tossed at me....

Only if the fed and state governments imposed taxes on themselves, since they get more profits (windfall or not) than anyone else. It is the ultimate arrogance that the blowhards in Congress would even suggest such a thing.

No.  It's stupid to do that. All they would do is pass the cost onto the consumer.

All they would do is pass the cost onto the consumer.

There has yet to be a tax passed that the above was not true. 

Something to think about in this media raised frenzy about Profits.  Because of size, and inflation, if profits were not setting records, the economy would be tanking it.  Of course profits are going up!  They are selling more, and the dollar is worth less and less!

theres tax on capital gains and property sales (real estate) ...
the answer to "should the us government impose a wind-fall oil profits tax" is an emphatic yes
it should be retroactive ... to 2002

it should be retroactive ... to 2002

Someone is woefully ignorant of the Constitution:

Article 1, Section 9: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

only if you want to subsidize the oil companies when they have a bad year. The problem with imposing additional taxes (beyond the ones that they already pay) is that it provides a disincentive for them to do things that lower costs.

In the past every time the oil companies have been pulled in front of congress, audited, etc. they have always come out looking good.

only if you want to subsidize the oil companies when they have a bad year.

Excellant Point!

This is a profit rich industry all around. It starts at the very bottom.

How do you turn an $80.00 printer into $30,000.00. Easy ... Go to office depot and purchase said printer for $80.00. Put it out at a rig site for 3 years at $25.00 a day rental fee. $25 a day x 1095 days = $27,375.00.

Don't get me wrong the process of drilling and producing oil is high. The rig market is not soft. To add a new rig to our lineup we have to make a 3-5 year commitment. For a small company that is a big risk but when you can move a rig every 30 days to a new location it is one most are willing to take.

Big Oil is not likely making as much money at the pump as you think. The are a millon ways to skin this cat.

Anyone who demands higher taxes for someone else, deserves higher taxes for themselves.

No. I think the cost of fuel is high enough without the government adding to it. The end user ALWAYS pays tax increases on corporations, terp, and a windfall profits tax would be no exception.

This is just like the politicians. The public is upset, so they won't stop us if we take someone else's money. Two words: Tobacco settlement.

If a company is making "too much" money, it's supposed to encourage the market to find new ways of getting a share of that money. So where's the alternative fuels and energy? Where's the move to open up more off shore drilling? How about at least a new refinery?

Still don't like it that the oil companies are making so much? Go buy some shares in Exxon. It will change your perspective.

First off, over the past 25 years, oil companies directly paid or remitted more than $2.2 trillion in taxes, after adjusting for inflation, to federal and state governments—including excise taxes, royalty payments and state and federal corporate income taxes. That amounts to more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Energy. Oh and that does not include local property taxes, state sales and severance taxes and on-shore royalty payments.

Secondly, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the 1980s windfall profits tax depressed the domestic production and extraction industry and furthered our dependence on foreign sources of oil.

Thirdly, someone has already mentioned who gets the lion's share of 'profits'. The government has actually “profited” more from the oil industry than the industry has earned for its shareholders.