We can save $78 billion by ending oil and gas subsidies

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Come over here and let me whisper a little secret to you, Paul. The words "Congress" and "Tax" are not applicable to "people" alone. We even have the US Supreme Court telling us that companies are entitled to the same "privileges" entitled to "persons".

I don't need left wing nut-jobs, or you, to define an entitlement to me.

the last time i checked, a company is made up of many people.

Left wing nuts will argue day and night that Unions should have all of these rights, yet don't think a company should have the same privilege? Get effing real. They are one in the same at the end of the day.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

the last time i checked, a company is made up of many people.

Left wing nuts will argue day and night that Unions should have all of these rights, yet don't think a company should have the same privilege? Get effing real. They are one in the same at the end of the day.

Please go look up the word "corporation".

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Please go look up the word "corporation".

Do you realize how many small businesses are "corporations."

edit: oh and let me help you here:

2: a body formed and authorized by law to act as a single person although constituted by one or more persons and legally endowed with various rights and duties including the capacity of succession

3: an association of employers and employees in a basic industry or of members of a profession organized as an organ of political representation in a corporative state.

Edited July 30, 2011 by DJ Kyo

[Ban Hammer 13,491]

Enacted in 1975 under the Presidency of Gerald Ford, and vastly expanded in 1986 under the Presidency of the great Republican demi-god, Ronald Reagan.

like i said.......

[mawilson 2,133]

I don't believe they wouldn't raise gas prices.

Well that's fine - why should the taxpayers subsidize more Hummers and Escalades? Level the playing field and let the free market do its thing.

[luckytxn 2,265]

I am sure everyone know that the Feds realize more revenue than the companies that make the fuels in the first place from the taxes. States also use fuels as a cash cow with taxes.

Now the companies are taxed heavily in other countries and then get to write off those taxes on their Federal returns. All Americans get to do so. The Feds and states still get to place heavy taxes though. Then they turn around and pay a heavy subsidy to pet projects like wind power, and other alternative things to what are essentially competitive technology. Then magically they are then giving a big donation to their campaigns and other donations to their PAC's. Al Gore has made a more than comfortable living by sitting on the boards. Nice and cozy arrangement.

If the technology is so great than let them stand on their own and try to compete.

[dalegg 143]

Well that's fine - why should the taxpayers subsidize more Hummers and Escalades? Level the playing field and let the free market do its thing.

As usual I agree with you.

[peejay 327]

Well, peejay, isn't that what capitalism is about? Only the strong survive? Except with the case of the oil companies, Uncle Sam stepped in. Funny, US capitalism.

The very companies who had their hands out in the 80's and 90's now hold the US middle class hostage. Not a very polite way to pay us back for holding them back from the brink with our tax dollars.

When and how did Uncle Sugar bail them out in the 80's and 90's? So now that they are highly profitable the usual suspects want to single them out and arbitrarily shake them down punatively.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

When and how did Uncle Sugar bail them out in the 80's and 90's? So now that they are highly profitable the usual suspects want to single them out and arbitrarily shake them down punatively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windfall_profits_tax

In 1980, the United States enacted the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act (P.L. 96-223) as part of a compromise between the Carter Administration and the Congress over the decontrol of crude oil prices. The Act was intended to recoup the revenue earned by oil producers as a result of the sharp increase in oil prices brought about by the OPEC oil embargo. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Act's title was a misnomer. "Despite its name, the crude oil windfall profit tax... was not a tax on profits. It was an excise tax... imposed on the difference between the market price of oil, which was technically referred to as the removal price, and a statutory 1979 base price that was adjusted quarterly for inflation and state severance taxes."[1]

On August 23, 1988, amid low oil prices, the tax was repealed when President Ronald Reagan signed P.L. 100-418, The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988.[2] Reagan had objected to the tax during his 1980 presidential campaign and promised to repeal it.

Edited July 31, 2011 by Rebecca Jo

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Do you realize how many small businesses are "corporations."

edit: oh and let me help you here:

2: a body formed and authorized by law to act as a single person although constituted by one or more persons and legally endowed with various rights and duties including the capacity of succession

3: an association of employers and employees in a basic industry or of members of a profession organized as an organ of political representation in a corporative state.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/corporation-person.htm

This concept isn't new. In ancient Roman law, a corporation was considered a juristic person: a single, nonhuman entity that legally represented a group of many people [source: Sherman]. The idea makes sense; after all, a corporation is made up of people's financial contributions.

But a corporation is more superhuman than human. It can function beyond the natural limits of age that govern humans, and as such can produce dividends for its investors, whose stock certificates can be willed and passed down as part of their estates. A corporation doesn't die with its originator -- it can live indefinitely (so long as it's profitable). Nor does a corporation need the same things that an actual person does. Corporations don't require food or water, and they can't feel pain.

­The laws that govern people take our hum­an weaknesses into account. For example, our prison system is designed to incarcerate the human body. You can't imprison a corporation, though. So granting human treatment to nonhuman corporations is tricky: It's like breathing life into a superhuman that can't feel pain and, after setting him free, hoping for the best.

[peejay 327]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windfall_profits_tax

In 1980, the United States enacted the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act (P.L. 96-223) as part of a compromise between the Carter Administration and the Congress over the decontrol of crude oil prices. The Act was intended to recoup the revenue earned by oil producers as a result of the sharp increase in oil prices brought about by the OPEC oil embargo. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Act's title was a misnomer. "Despite its name, the crude oil windfall profit tax... was not a tax on profits. It was an excise tax... imposed on the difference between the market price of oil, which was technically referred to as the removal price, and a statutory 1979 base price that was adjusted quarterly for inflation and state severance taxes."[1]

On August 23, 1988, amid low oil prices, the tax was repealed when President Ronald Reagan signed P.L. 100-418, The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988.[2] Reagan had objected to the tax during his 1980 presidential campaign and promised to repeal it.

As I stated...So now that they are highly profitable the usual suspects want to single them out and arbitrarily shake them down punatively.

How can you justify singling out and shaking down a particular business or industry arbitrarily because they are making a profit while excluding others? Why not also tax the sh*t out of other businesses too because you feel they are making too much money?

I think a lot of this vitriol directed at energy companies is rooted in hatred of the industry and the desire to put them out of business by the Left. Hence the arbitrary nature to act against a particular industry punatively.

Edited July 31, 2011 by peejay

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

As I stated...So now that they are highly profitable the usual suspects want to single them out and arbitrarily shake them down punatively.

How can you justify singling out and shaking down a particular business or industry arbitrarily because they are making a profit while excluding others? Why not also tax the sh*t out of other businesses too because you feel they are making too much money?

I think a lot of this vitriol directed at energy companies is rooted in hatred of the industry and the desire to put them out of business by the Left. Hence the arbitrary nature to act against a particular industry punatively.

peejay, you asked me how Uncle Sam bailed out Big Oil in the 80's and 90's, and I gave you the answer. It's not polite to take a fact and attempt to dismiss the fact with rhetoric.