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In this article from the Goldwater Institute they tell us our government masters are going to protect us from excess profits from oil companies. Of course the end result will be excess taxes by the government.

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Truth is Graver than Fiction

by Christina Sandefur

Part one of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged ends in despair, as the oil fields of entrepreneur Ellis Wyatt burst into flames. Wyatt Oil, once a successful business that created jobs and launched an economic Renaissance in the western United States, had fallen victim to stifling taxes and government regulation. No longer willing to surrender to bureaucrats, Wyatt abandons his once-thriving business.

Page by page, Rand’s apocalyptic masterpiece is coming true right before our eyes. The most recent eerie similarity involves a bill introduced in Congress to create a “Reasonable Profits Board.” Yes; I am serious.

H.R. 3784 would wrest money from oil companies who, in the Board’s view, earn too much. The Board’s three members, appointed by the President alone, could impose taxes between 50 and 100 percent on “unreasonable profits.”

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), one of the bill’s sponsors, assures us that the “bill would tax only the excess profits.” But what exactly is an excess profit? Apparently, whatever the unelected Board members say it is.

Kucinich says the money taken from the oil companies will be used to “create forward-thinking transportation alternatives.” In other words, three bureaucrats will have the power to extort money from the businesses consumers prefer in order to support politically favored cronies.

It’s important to note that the bill targets profits, not price. The Board is designed to protect consumers from oil companies who are “gouging their customers,” says Kucinich. But who will rescue consumers from the government’s price gouging? In several states, taxes make up almost 20 percent of gas prices. In Arizona, for every gallon of gasoline purchased, consumers pay 37.4 cents in taxes. But the government’s solution is yet more taxes.

In a free market, people earn money by providing a product or service that others are willing to buy at a price they are willing to pay. The “reasonable profits” bill would rob entrepreneurs of their motivation to be successful, depriving workers of job opportunities and consumers of needed products. If H.R. 3784 becomes law, Americans will yearn for the days when Atlas Shrugged was just a novel.

Christina Sandefur is a staff attorney for the Goldwater Institute.

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Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits

By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/19/12 10:20 AM ET

Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits.

The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.

The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress.

The bill would also seem to exclude industry representatives from the board, as it says members "shall have no financial interests in any of the businesses for which reasonable profits are determined by the Board."

According to the bill, a windfall tax of 50 percent would be applied when the sale of oil or gas leads to a profit of between 100 percent and 102 percent of a reasonable profit. The windfall tax would jump to 75 percent when the profit is between 102 and 105 percent of a reasonable profit, and above that, the windfall tax would be 100 percent. The bill also specifies that the oil-and-gas companies, as the seller, would have to pay this tax.

Kucinich said these tax revenues would be used to fund alternative transportation programs when oil-and-gas prices spike.

"Gas prices continue to rise, creating a hardship for the American people," he said. "At the same time, oil companies are making record profits gouging their customers. This bill would tax only the excess profits and create forward-thinking transportation alternatives."

Specifically, he said the money would be used to fund a tax credit on the purchase of fuel-efficient cars and set up a grant program for mass transit programs when oil-and-gas prices are high.

The bill does not estimate the size of these grants or the amount of money that might be collected through the tax.

Co-sponsoring the bill are five other Democrats: Reps. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), Bob Filner (Calif.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), Jim Langevin (R.I.), and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).

State and Federal taxes on gasoline

For starters Uncle Sam, or the Federal government shakes you down for 18.4 cents for every gallon of gas you buy.

Then here in Arizona, the crooks at the State legislator screw up for an additional 18 cents, which brings up the tax on gas in Arizona to 36.4 cents a gallon.