Profits are Obscene, but not for the Government

So, according to Obama, the Federal gas taxes imposed by our government don't amount to much. Over a three month period the taxes charged by the government amount to about $30.00. The Federal tax gas is $0.18 per gallon. Looking at that as a "net profit" the government is making about 4.8% profit margin on each gallon sold.

Now lets look at what the oil companies make per gallon. The average over the last 10 years is what it is now, about $0.08 per gallon. That equates to a profit margin of 2.1%. So the government makes over twice as much as the oil companies do on each gallon of gas sold in the US.

Now, what does the government do to earn that kind of return? Squat! that's what. In fact, they not only collect the gas tax, but they also collect income tax on corporate profits, in the tune of around $48 billion last year. That's an even higher rate of tax than the per gallon tax they collect. And again, what did they do to earn that money......Squat!

Now, what did the oil companies do to earn their smaller share of net profit, how about everything. They found the oil, they drilled and pumped it out of the earth. They transported it to refineries, the few we have left, and produced gasoline. Then they trucked it around the US for us to use in our cars and trucks. This is on top of the capital out lays they loose when say, a dictator just takes their assets and provides them little or no compensation, ie: Hugo Chavez. Dealing with countries that don't have our best interests at heart produces other costs we can't see.

Now Obama says that the small amount of taxes we'd save is so small that it only amounts to only a half a tank of gas over 3 months. But then he thinks that the smaller amount the oil companies make is obscene and should be taxed extra. And then he'd take that money and use it to find ways to not use the product that produced these extra taxes in the first place. The man has no clue. And the knuckle heads in the Congress have none either. Even my own congressman, Rick Keller, had to chime in. He has the right idea for the production of more crude, but he still had to get his digs in on the executive pay. See his questioning here. http://wms18.streamhoster.com/rkeller/Keller%20questions%20oil%20execs_1.wmv I want to hear what he says about refineries, asking the Exxon exec. why they haven't built any more. It's the government Rick, and all the environmentalists that they don't want to piss off.

Again, as I've said in the past, more drilling, in our own country, is the only way to get a handle on gas prices. Looking at the facts above, the government and the oil companies will still get theirs, and if it comes from the US, such as ANWR, the Florida and Calf. coasts, shale deposits in the upper west US, we would keep the majority of the money spent on crude oil here at home. If the government wants to stimulate the economy all they would have to do is let the drilling began. Jobs would be created, more money would be in consumer's pockets to spend, and fewer dollars would flow out of the country. It's amazing, if the government did less, the country would grow more.

"Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."

Ronald Wilson Reagan, First Inaugural address (1981)