Today, I was flipping through the channels and I saw a clip of Exxon Mobil executive J. Stephen Simon testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Mr. Simon stated that from 2003-2007, Exxon Mobil’s world-wide profits have increased 89%, but in that same time period, their world-wide taxes have increased 170%.
Further, in the past 5 years, Exxon Mobil’s US tax bills have exceeded their US profits by $19 billion.
That sure is a very different perspective than the record profits, record profits mantra we have all heard ad nauseam.
Interestingly enough, the oil industry only earns 8.3 cents per dollar of sales. [1] That is only 27 cents on a $3.29 gallon of gas.
The State and Federal governments’ profits on that same gallon of gas? An average of 47 cents. [2]
Who’s reaping windfall profits from the high price of gasoline?
Here is that clip; it was from NECN:
Sources:
[1]“Congress Has Big Questions for Big Oil,” The Associated Press.
[2]“Gasoline Taxes,” PDF document, API.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:14 am
A lot of this hype from the oil industry is about Congress potentially taking away tax breaks that the oil companies already have, which many (myself included) don’t think they need. The alternative energy sources that big oil and their allies always oppose are where those kind of tax incentives should go I think.
“in the past 5 years, Exxon Mobil’s US tax bills have exceeded their US profits by $19 billion.”
Does that mean that they are not making a huge profit off oil sales of all types in the USA? I think not…they are doing just fine. For the first time ever, I recently spent over 50 bucks to fill up my gas tank (and my car’s not that big at all). Every time I begrudingly go to the gas station, I say, either out loud or to myself, “Thank God we’re in Iraq.” It’s only going to get worse from here on out.
This talk about how alternative energy sources can’t take up the slack of fossil fuels (like oil) is also complete bunk. The fossil fuel companies have a HUGE stake in keeping people out of those markets (by floating pipe dreams like hydrogen fuel cells that will likely never happen in many decades), while the world’s supply of oil dwindles every single year. The “market” talk that this guy makes is just more talk about how “cheap” oil is when compared to it’s alternatives…mostly because the widespread use of alternatives has been supressed by, surprise, surprise, them and their allies in govt.. We have to get off the oil bandwgaon, and to not do so as quickly as possible will just prolong the economic pain that is to come…
April 8th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Yada yada, broken record, day in day out, defend the indefensible, it’s all the nasty guv’ment’s fault. You ever gonna come up with something new? As your worldview becomes increasingly marginalized and more people see it for the b.s. that it is, how are you gonna rise above the dittohead sameness?
April 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
More grandstanding by congress.
Will they ever get tired of butting in where they don’t belong?
I don’t recall congress pulling them in to testify why prices were so low a few years ago. Why now?
Taxes add more to the price of a gallon of gas than their profits.
Lets also not forget that the rate of oil production is controlled by a cartel that hates America.
What ever happened to that liberal nonsense about this being a war for oil?
If that was true, why are prices higher now than before we occupied Iraq?
Here’s a little economics lesson for you liberal folk: price controls don’t work. If the govt sets the price too high, you’ll have surpluses. If the govt sets the price too low, you’ll have shortages. Think back to 1978 – 79. The “gas shortage” wasn’t really a gas shortage. The problem was that the govt had put in price controls (under Nixon) and when the cost of gas rose above the price that the govt had set, it was no longer worth while to sell gasoline.
Which alternative energy sources will replace fossil fuels?
April 9th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
This was partially a war that was fought for oil…a war that was fought horribly as well, which is one of the reasons why the region has become *more* destabilized than before, hence the higher oil prices IMO. How about when we fought the first Gulf War supposively so that the Iraqis didn’t take over most of the oil reserves in the Gulf region? Gas prices spiked then as well even though there was no real shortage of oil, since the rest of the oil producing nations willingly raised oil production.
“Which alternative energy sources will replace fossil fuels?”
The usual suspects…you’ve heard of them I’m sure…hydro, solar, wind, all sorts of different biofuels, etc.. My next car will likely be a hybrid, and after the warranty on it is up…I’ll probably switch it over to a plug-in hybrid and be done with gasoline entirely.
April 26th, 2008 at 10:38 am
If you want more of something, you do not place additional taxes on it.
The 1980 windfall profits tax forced small independent operators to plug over
8,000 wells and reduced our domestic production by almost five percent.
It could be fairly stated that it is part of the reason oil prices are high and going higher now.
Americans always need to blame someone for things they don’t like. High energy costs are inevitable as we are beginning to see.
Saudi Arabia is about to be exposed for its “big lie” about oil reserves and production capabilities. The real reason that OPEC does not increase production significantly is because they CAN’T. When the rest of the world figures that out, the speculators will drive oil and gas to higher highs.
Additional taxation of oil companies was proven wrong in the ’80’s but some people just don’t learn from history. We need more drilling and exploration to complement new technologies until we get off our oil addiction.
In the meanwhile, we will be paying for our waste of energy for the past seventy
years. I’m investing in a few oil wells in Texas to hedge.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
Mister Guy, go buy a hybrid, install a PV array and a solar water heater on your house, ride your bike to work, and shut the fuck up.
You are all talk and no action.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
LOL! I’m stunned by your literary attack…but not really…