Martina, you are paying twice as much, but a great deal of that cost is tax going into the public treasury. Here, the tax (actual pennies, not percentage) hasn't gone up since the stuff was a dollar a gallon. The tripled price is all going to Big Oil, which then turns around and demands (and gets) tax breaks at the expense of the general treasury. I guess they have friends in high places.
Thomas Friedman (NYTimes), among others, has been advocating a hugh increase in gas taxes here with the tax going to energy research. He would like the gas to stay a constant price, say $4/gal, the tax being the difference between $4 and the current price. I fear, however, if implemented and folks get used to the $4 tag, big oil will just raise the base price to $3.99 - and keep the tax cuts.
Lyle, well, *anything* Friedman says will be a wink-and-nod gift to his corporate overlords.
If I remember right, Exxon/Mobile last year made the highest profit of any corporation in the history of the world, and paid absolutely no U.S. income tax. To fund research into clean and renewable energy, all we'd have to do is force the oil companies to pay their taxes. They'd still have plenty of profit for their stockholders.
Yes, in fact the price consists of more than 60% of different taxes and charges.
Interesting fact (to me at last) is that for example one (relatively small part) is the oil stockpiling charge. Besides ecotax, VAT etc..
And: if I could be sure our government would invest in noble (ha!) cases I would gladly pay even more taxes on gas. Not that anyone is going to ask me about my opinion, though. ;-)
Martina, I'm as skeptical as you, but still, if a bunch of money is in the hands of one or our governments or in the hands of Big Oil, which is more likely to use it in a Nobel Cause?
8 comments:
little BP suns don't seem to be helping with the melting! (or is this a comment on burning fossil fuels and global warming?)
So that's 329.9 cent per gallon. That's approx. 82 cent per litre. Around here it's 1.50 Euro per litre. That's twice the price (more or less).
I like the combination of bp sun and snowbanks, too - I guess lyle is right with the hint "global warming".
Martina, you are paying twice as much, but a great deal of that cost is tax going into the public treasury. Here, the tax (actual pennies, not percentage) hasn't gone up since the stuff was a dollar a gallon. The tripled price is all going to Big Oil, which then turns around and demands (and gets) tax breaks at the expense of the general treasury. I guess they have friends in high places.
Thomas Friedman (NYTimes), among others, has been advocating a hugh increase in gas taxes here with the tax going to energy research. He would like the gas to stay a constant price, say $4/gal, the tax being the difference between $4 and the current price. I fear, however, if implemented and folks get used to the $4 tag, big oil will just raise the base price to $3.99 - and keep the tax cuts.
Lyle, well, *anything* Friedman says will be a wink-and-nod gift to his corporate overlords.
If I remember right, Exxon/Mobile last year made the highest profit of any corporation in the history of the world, and paid absolutely no U.S. income tax. To fund research into clean and renewable energy, all we'd have to do is force the oil companies to pay their taxes. They'd still have plenty of profit for their stockholders.
...and probably a little something left over for NPR and Sesame Street
Yes, in fact the price consists of more than 60% of different taxes and charges.
Interesting fact (to me at last) is that for example one (relatively small part) is the oil stockpiling charge. Besides ecotax, VAT etc..
And: if I could be sure our government would invest in noble (ha!) cases I would gladly pay even more taxes on gas. Not that anyone is going to ask me about my opinion, though. ;-)
Martina, I'm as skeptical as you, but still, if a bunch of money is in the hands of one or our governments or in the hands of Big Oil, which is more likely to use it in a Nobel Cause?
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