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Adam Thomas and Associated Press reportingSaved by Senate Republicans, big oil companies dodged an attempt Tuesday to slap them with a windfall profits tax and take away billions of dollars in tax breaks in response to the record gasoline prices that have the nation fuming.
The Democratic energy package would have imposed a 25 percent tax on any "unreasonable" profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies, which together made $36 billion during the first three months of the year. It also would have given the government more power to address oil market speculation, opened the way for antitrust actions against countries belonging to the OPEC oil cartel, and made energy price gouging a federal crime.
"Americans are furious about what's going on," declared Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. He said they want Congress to do something about oil company profits and the "orgy of speculation" on oil markets.
But Republican leaders said the Democrats' plan would do harm rather than good, and they kept the legislation from being brought up for debate and amendments.
This morning, on Utah's Morning News on KSL Newsradio Senior Sen. Orrin Hatch said, "Congress hit U.S. oil companies with a windfall profits tax back in the 1980 with disastrous results. Domestic drilling for oil went down, the nation's dependence on foreign oil went up, and the revenues were far lower than anticipated. I think it was one of the things that elected Ronald Reagan because he turned around and repealed the tax in 1988. It turned out to be an anti-energy policy. And frankly, what they want to do is levy a 25 percent tax on the profits of U.S. oil and gas industry. If the windfall profits tax is put into place today, a decrease similar to the 1980s would occur and would result in per year production losses of up to 149 million barrels of oil. That's how stupid they are back here."
Hatch continued the finger-pointing, saying Democrats are also blocking efforts to explore and tap new oil resources in this country.
To hear the entire interview with Sen. Hatch, click on the audio link.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
