Clipmarks | Oil company taxes Clips

Every Alaskan gets $3200 from oil money - for nothing!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:49:36 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: $22,400 for a family of 7, like Palin's. When oil companies pay taxes to Alaska, they deduct it from their federal taxes, and we of the other 49 make up the difference. 85% of budget from oil companies; residents pay no income or sales taxes, and state is rolling in dough, while most states are laying off teachers.
How ironic, when an Alaska Republican opposes a windfall profits tax, and favor reduced government services - when they live, in part, off of government handouts from revenue the oil industry pays them to get oil to us!

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Welcome to the People's Republic of Alaska, where every resident this year will get a $3,200 payout, thanks in no small measure to the efforts of Sarah Palin, the state's Republican governor. That's $22,400 for a family of seven, like Palin's. Since 1982, the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests oil revenues from state lands, has paid out a dividend on invested oil loot to everyone who has been in the state for a year.

No wonder she is popular with voters in a state whose residents pay no income or sales taxes but are blessed with state coffers rolling in cash at a time when all other states are suffering. Indeed, when the oil companies pay more taxes to the state of Alaska, they get to write that off against their federal tax obligation, leaving the rest of us to make up the shortfall.

Alaska

was getting upward of 85 percent of its budget from the oil companies

Why is it a good thing for the folks up in Alaska to get a cut of exorbitant oil company profits, but not the rest of us

Tags: alaska

10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:24:23 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: Assumptions can sure be deceptive!

Clip Source: www.smartmoney.com

10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

1. "You may think I'm rich, but I don't."

But the club isn't so exclusive anymore. Some 10 million households have a net worth above $1 million

2. "I shop at Wal-Mart..."

They may not buy the 99-cent paper towels, but millionaires know what it is to be frugal.

3. "...but I didn't get rich by skimping on lattes."

the millionaires' club? You could buy stocks or real estate, play the slots in Vegas — or take the most common path: running your own business

4. "I have a concierge for everything."

many top eateries set aside tables for celebrities and A-list clientele

5. "You don't get rich by being nice."

Rockefeller threatened rivals with bankruptcy if they didn't sell out to his company, Standard Oil

Clip Source: www.smartmoney.com

6. "Taxes are for little people."

Most millionaires do pay taxes.

7. "I was a B student."

8. "Like my Ferrari? It's a rental."

9. "Turns out money can buy happiness."

10. "You worry about the Joneses — I worry about keeping up with the Trumps."

Tags: millionaire, spending, rich, fashion, ferrari, bugatti, luxury, villas, caviar

ExxonMobil Financials

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:30:55 GMT

clipped by: hlimjr
clipper's remarks: Lying politicians use deceptive statistics to persuade ignorant voters to support bad policies. And, the main stream media doesn't help.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

ExxonMobil CEO and chairman Rex Tillerson defended his company's staggering $11.7 billion in profits for the second quarter, saying that the company's earnings reflected the magnitude of its business operation.

"I saw someone characterize our profits the other day in terms of $1,400 in profit per second. Well, they also need to understand we paid $4,000 a second in taxes, and we spent $15,000 a second in cost," Tillerson told ABC News' Charles Gibson. "We spend $1 billion a day just running our business. So this is a business where large numbers are just characteristic of it."

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

ExxonMobil invested $12.5 billion, a record amount of capital into exploration expenditures, in the first half of 2008. But 55 percent of their profits go to stock buyback.

Tags: oil

What is a Windfall Profit?

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:56:30 GMT

clipped by: bmeuppls
clipper's remarks: Maybe they have in mind profit margins as a percentage of sales. Yet by that standard Exxon's profits don't seem so large. Exxon's profit margin stood at 10% for 2007, which is hardly out of line with the oil and gas industry average of 8.3%, or the 8.9% for U.S. manufacturing (excluding the sputtering auto makers).

If that's what constitutes windfall profits, most of corporate America would qualify.Chemicals had an average margin of 12.7%. Computers: 13.7%. Electronics and appliances: 14.5%. Pharmaceuticals (18.4%) and beverages and tobacco (19.1%) round out the Census Bureau's industry rankings.
But if 10% is the new standard, the tech industry is going to have to rethink its growth arc. LG, the electronics company, saw its profits grow by 505% in 2007. General Electric profits by investing in the alternative energy technology that Obama says Congress should subsidize GE's profit margin in 2007 was 10.3%, about the same asExxon's.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Enquiring entrepreneurs want to know. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama's "emergency" plan, announced on Friday, doesn't offer any clarity. To pay for "stimulus" checks of $1,000 for families and $500 for individuals, the Senator says government would take "a reasonable share" of oil company profits.

Take Exxon Mobil, which on Thursday reported the highest quarterly profit ever and is the main target of any "windfall" tax surcharge. Yet if its profits are at record highs, its tax bills are already at record highs too. Between 2003 and 2007, Exxon paid $64.7 billion in U.S. taxes, exceeding its after-tax U.S. earnings by more than $19 billion. That sounds like a government windfall to us, but perhaps we're missing some Obama-Durbin business subtlety.

Thank You, Big Oil

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:14:51 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Ms. Clinton says, "We need a president who's a fighter, who will take on the oil companies." What we need is a president who will take on the US Congress and get them to stop strangling both the American public and energy companies with taxes and regulations; a president who will call congressional leaders of both parties on the carpet, publicly expose their hypocrisy, and demand that they take immediate action to repeal the smothering burdens they have shackled all of us with and which have caused skyrocketing oil prices.

So the next time you feel like blaming the oil companies for the price of gas, why don't you call your congressman instead; I suggest that you get down on your knees and thank God for the brilliant minds of oil company engineers, geologists, chemists, and executives who - in spite of the US Congress - have the creativity and courage to provide the energy that keeps all of us alive and enjoying our modern way of life.

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

Blame for the high cost of gasoline and diesel lies squarely with the United States Congress and the legislatures of the several states. Congress has denied the energy companies access to the hundreds of billions of barrels of oil available right here in America - off the coast of California, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and elsewhere. Their environmental regulations have prevented the construction of even a single new refinery in this nation for three decades, and have made the construction of nuclear power plants virtually impossible. Thus they have vastly reduced oil supplies, choked off the supply of refined gasoline, and prevented nuclear power from alleviating the demand for fuel oil.

These same politicians who have deliberately caused the high fuel prices now look you straight in the eye and say that they feel your pain

They believe you're stupid enough to not realize that they have caused the high oil prices, or will be placated by the looting of the oil companies

Tags: gas prices, u.s.congress, california, florida, anwr, environmental regulations, refineries, nuclear power plants

Windfall Profit Tax

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:02:01 GMT

clipped by: DrCat2013
clipper's remarks: What do you think?

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Senate Republicans block taxes on oil profits

WASHINGTON - Saved 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.

GOP senators shoved aside the Democratic proposal, arguing that punishing Big Oil won’t do a thing to lower the $4-a-gallon-price of gasoline that is sending economic waves across the country. High prices at the pump are threatening everything from summer vacations to Meals on Wheels deliveries to the elderly.

“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.

Obscene Oil Profits? Try Obscene Taxes!

Mon, 12 May 2008 05:00:41 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: www.taxfoundation.org

ExxonMobil's recent announcement of first quarter profits of $10.9 billion has prompted the predictable political demagoguery about "obscene" profits and the need for a new windfall profits tax.

Before taxes, Exxon had income of $20 billion on total world-wide revenue of $116 billion. Its earnings statement shows that the company paid $9.3 billion in income taxes to governments here and abroad. This amounts to an effective tax rate of more than 46 percent, 10 percentage points higher than the U.S. statutory rate of 35 percent.

Exxon paid or remitted $20 billion in various sales taxes, excise taxes, severance taxes, and property taxes. This brings the total amount of taxes the company paid or remitted to $29.3 billion, nearly three times the net profits it earned for shareholders.

The financial statements of two other large U.S.-based oil companies, ConocoPhillips and ChevronTexaco, show similar large tax payments.

Tags: oil, taxes

Battle Of the Proxy Incumbents

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:23:56 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Fiction can be fun! Ultimately though, this fanciful bit of twaddle is unlikely to stick, what with McCain's voting record so thoroughly refuting it. And in a lot of ways, that's too bad. If only we could look back at McCain's votes and comments on the wildly effective investment income tax cuts and find a man who embraced pro-growth fiscal policy as eagerly as Bush, we might be better assured of the continuity of certain beneficial policies that Obama so laments.

Clip Source: www.suitablyflip.com

In case your cable's been out for a couple weeks, the grand, unifying, post-partisan argument in favor of electing this New Kind of Politician is that John McCain, the "Maverick", the Gang of 14er, the pathologically centrist aisle-crosser and frequent thorn in his own party's side, represents George Bush's third term.

Still, Barack assures us that John McCain's and George Bush's policy stances are indistinguishable, so let's so stipulate. Is that worse than the alternative?

After all, what President in the modern era does Senator Obama's agenda most resemble?

Huge expansion of the federal government? Check. Letting entitlement spending run wild? Check. "Windfall profit" taxes on oil companies? Check. Big doofy grin? Check.

Do political fashions run in 30-year cycles? If so, then get ready for the fabulous comeback of energy crises, stagflation, high unemployment, and national malaise.

(Obama caricature by Cox & Forkum)

Tags: mccain, obama, huge government expansion, entitlement spending, oil company taxes, stagflation, high unemployment

The Price of Gas

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:59:01 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

Again, while just over nine percent of the price of a gallon of gas goes to oil company profits, approximately twenty percent of the price of a gallon of gas is composed of federal, state, and local taxes.

Those who want the government to step in and do something about the high price of gas are either forgetful of recent history or too young to remember the oil crisis of 1979. During that time, restrictions on the price of gasoline led to the inability of some to find gas at all. Price ceilings always lead to shortages. The only thing worse than having to pay "too much" for gas is not being able to find gas at any price.

Let us not be swayed by politicians out for power or by reporters out to create news where none exists. Facts and economic logic should prevail rather than rhetoric.

Clip Source: www.mises.org

Are gas prices really all that high?

A change in price can be a result of inflation, taxes, changes in supply and demand, or any combination of the three.

First, we need to take into account inflation. The result of the Federal Reserve printing too much money is a loss of purchasing power of the dollar: something that cost $1.00 in 1950 would cost about $8.78 today. As for gas prices, in 1950 the price of gas was approximately 30 cents per gallon. Adjusted for inflation, a gallon of gas today should cost right at $2.64, assuming taxes are the same.

But taxes have not stayed the same. The tax per gallon of gas in 1950 was roughly 1.5% of the price. Today, federal, state, and local taxes account for approximately 20% of gas's posted price. Taking inflation and the increase in taxes into account (assuming no change in supply or demand) the same gallon of gas that cost 30 cents in 1950 should today cost about $3.13.

The question is, why are gas prices not higher than they are?

Tags: economics

The Riches of Socialist Britain

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:51:21 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Meanwhile, this parody of a Labour government has increased taxes on the poorest segment of society who are already hit by massive inflation on the most basic of survival resources such as food.

Clip Source: business.timesonline.co.uk

The richest 1,000 people in Britain have seen their wealth quadruple under Labour, according to The Sunday Times Rich List published today. Even under Gordon Brown’s brief premiership their fortunes have soared by 15%, just as the financial squeeze and faltering house prices have hit ordinary people.

foreign billionaires are making London one of the global capitals for a mobile “superclass”. The highest new entry on the list is Alisher Usmanov, a tycoon with interests in mining, steel, media and banking; he is a close ally of Valdimir Putin, the former Russian president. Usmanov, worth £5.7 billion

Also a new entry is Leonard Blavatnik, a Russian who made his fortune in oil. He has a £41m home in London and ranks 11th on the list at £3.9 billion. Another arrival from the former Soviet Union is Vladimir Kim, who heads the London-based mining company Kazakhmys. Kim is worth £2.9 billion.

Big Taxing, Big Earmarking, Big Congress Grills Big Oil

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:18:45 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: (continued) will Rep. Walden agitate for lower tax rates? What about Walden’s earmarks of over $46 million? Will he think about lowering his earmarks, in light of the federal government’s record profits?

* * * * *

As Ronald Bailey of Reason writes: “Finally, if Congress wants to blame someone for high oil prices, blame the benighted oil producing countries that have underinvested in oil production for at least a decade. But Congressional grandstanders can’t haul the likes of Venezuela’s Chavez, Russia’s Putin, and Iran’s Ahmadinejad to their hearing rooms.”

The spectacle of the House blaming the oil companies in a free market for high prices would be bizarre, if it didn’t happen so often.

Clip Source: deathby1000papercuts.com

The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held hearings and grilled oil company execs over the oil companies’ 8-cent per gallon profits.

They remained close-lipped over government’s take of nearly 50-cents of taxes per gallon. Or, as the Wall Street Journal noted, “that higher gasoline prices is exactly what would happen if Congress enacts proposed global warming policies”.

Three of the House’s Select April Fools.

Edward Markey (D-Mass)
Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

John Larson, D-Conn
Larson currently serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, the House committee charged with writing tax legislation and bills affecting Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs.

Greg Walden (R-OR)
Walden was the only one of Oregon’s House members to vote against a “fix-up patch” on a bill to protect the middle class from a new tax.

With federal government’s record budget of $3.1 TRILLION for 2008

Tags: energy independence, global warming, hearings, ed markey, john larson, greg walden, $3.1 trillion federal budget

Oil Companies

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:24:56 GMT

clipped by: mklosinski
clipper's remarks: Great article to read for those that bash the oil companies.

Clip Source: www.townhall.com

When it comes to public hatred of big business, there’s no better target than oil companies. This hatred has been all the more intense since Exxon Mobil announced last year’s net income at $40.6 billion, the largest-ever profit for a publicly-traded company. With the threat of recession looming, many policymakers have been tempted to pay for relief measures by raising taxes on “Big Oil”—including the House’s recent bill rolling back tax deductions on integrated oil companies (though leaving them in place for other companies). Understandable as this impulse may be, it is a bad idea for average Americans. If the government tries to “do something” about record oil profits, it won’t provide meaningful relief revenue, but will certainly raise the price at the pump.

oil and gas earnings are less impressive. The industry’s net profit per dollar of revenue was just under 9 cents, compared to 13 cents for the S&P 500, meaning the “markup” for the oil and gas industry is below average .

Tags: gas prices, oil companies

Congress Punishes American Oil.............by Steve Forbes

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:34:17 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: continued>>by putting a handful companies at the mercy of competitors across the globe.

Even more outrageous, foreign oil companies, including Citgo, owned by the government of Venezuela, will not lose the deduction. In other words, foreign oil companies with US production will actually pay a lower tax rate than American companies. How can members of Congress support legislation that will reward companies such as Citgo, while placing U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage? In their zeal to punish "big oil" members of Congress have made a mockery of our energy policy.

What few in Congress have talked about is that millions in subsidies will go to large and successful companies. These companies have been at the forefront of the lobbying campaign for this legislation. So despite all the talk of promoting renewable and alternatives, it's nothing more than another congressional debacle to transfer wealth to favored interest.

Revisiting the mistakes of the 1970's..........

Clip Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

With oil clearing the $100 benchmark and ongoing instability in key oil producing regions of the globe, politicians in Washington want credit for some form of energy legislation, even if it is wrong for the country. What Congress has really concocted is a transfer of wealth scheme that raises taxes on oil companies to provide subsidies to "alternative energy." The bottom line on their latest energy fiasco is that it raises taxes on select oil companies, spares foreign oil companies the same tax increases and hands over subsidies to some of the largest companies in the country who will benefit from the "renewable" tax credits.

This $18 billion tax increase concocted by Congress includes a provision that takes away a manufacturing tax credit - which companies across the board can use - from only the five largest oil companies.

bad as it is to raises taxes for the energy industry during an economic slowdown, a tax increase that's only aimed at specific companies undermines energy security

Tags: congress, eneryg legislation, oil company tax increases, subsidizes alternative energy, elimanates manufacturing tax credit

Filthy Lucre Alaska's oil-happy pols are ensnared in scandal

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:03:06 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: However the scandals fall out, environmentalists can actually look forward to a cleaner brand of politics emerging up north. Squeaky-clean governor Sarah Palin (R) called the legislature into special session and got a new oil-tax law that raised taxes and tightened loopholes. And a new statewide poll shows both Don Young and Ted Stevens trailing likely Democratic challengers in this year's election.

Clip Source: www.sierraclub.org

SUITE 604 OF THE BARANOF HOTEL in Alaska's capital city, Juneau: Grainy video captures state legislators drinking with executives of VECO Corporation, the state's largest oil-field service company. Then money changes hands.

The corruption of Alaskan politics had long been suspected, but the FBI's hidden camera proved it. Last May, VECO's two top executives pleaded guilty to bribing legislators to pass a favorable oil-tax law. The unfolding scandal has tarred the state's entire congressional delegation, including Senator Ted Stevens (R)--a relentless proponent of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

VECO officials testified that they paid $243,000 in bogus "consulting fees" to Stevens's son Ben, the former president of the state senate.

The rest of the Alaska delegation isn't faring much better. Junior senator Lisa Murkowski (R) bought some prime Kenai River real estate from a developer for far below its value (returning it once the deal became public)

The next time you fork it over at the pump remember the $40.6 billion Exxon got

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:13:12 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: It’s a simple fact of life. Oil companies need huge profits to counter the insane wishes of the citizenry like alternative energy, universal health care, demcoracy and human rights. The current system in which the government taxes the middle class (and a token tax from the wealthy) to give back to the rich via no-bid military contracts and Homeland Security is under attack by grass root movements and radical authors. Democracy is a terrible thing for corporate profits and that’s why corporate America supports the most ruthless dictatorships in the world. Show your support for a corporate world by buying a gas guzzling SUV or still better… a motor yacht! Buy, buy, buy anything you can before our resources run out and finally be a good corporate citizen

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Ever since “we” invaded Iraq, most of us have gotten nothing to show for it other than an enormously increased national debt that we will be paying off for decades to come and an economy that is sputtering into recession. Oil sold for $22.81 the year before the war was launched against a country with the world’s second-largest holding, and the average price last year was almost three times that, at $64.20.

With oil bouncing up to $100 in the fourth quarter, Exxon recorded the highest corporate quarterly return ever. Chevron, the country’s second-biggest oil company, saw profits rise 29 percent that quarter, contributing to an enviable profit of $18.7 billion for 2007. Clearly, what’s good for big oil is not good for most Americans, few of whom would look back on 2007 with favor.

a conflict of interest that Rice was paid handsomely for being on the board of Chevron from 1991 until she resigned to go to work in the Bush White House

What a sorry record U.S. oil companies have compiled