Despite its name, the
windfall profits tax was actually an excise tax on oil, applied to the difference between the market price of crude and a "statutory 1979 base price" that was adjusted quarterly for price inflation and state severance taxes.
"The
windfall profits tax was very unfortunate because it suddenly made Mongolia one of the toughest tax regimes for mining," Oyun said.
As happened in when the first
windfall profits tax was passed, these taxes will reduce exploration, limit supply, and increase costs by collapsing the market and driving independent oil producers--the very companies that do the most to produce domestically--out of business.
McCain advocates a federal gas tax holiday while Senators Clinton and Obama want to stick it to big oil with a
windfall profits tax, forgetting that this contributed to long gas lines in 1970s.
She said she would pay for the summer gas holiday with a $10 million
windfall profits tax on the big oil companies and has a tandem proposal to also close $7.5 billion in oil company tax loopholes and tax breaks.
Instead of calling for a
windfall profits tax, with the money going to an investment fund for alternative energy development, we hear, "End tax breaks for Big Oil and create tax incentives for the development" of such energy.
But at the Pennsylvania Democratic Debate, Hillary Clinton called to put a stop to adding more oil into the SPR and releasing some of it to 'help drive down the price globally.' She added that she supports a
windfall profits tax on oil company's excessively high profits, which would put that money back into the Highway Trust Fund 'so that we don't lose out on repair, construction, and rebuilding.'
For example, the
Windfall Profits Tax of the 1980s resulted in lower domestic oil production, higher oil imports, and a depressed U.S.
The Algerian energy minster, Chakib Khelil, says he's still waiting for international oil companies' reaction to the proposed new law introducing the
windfall profits tax on oil, along with a move to give the state-owned oil firm Sonatrach a 51% interest in their contracts.
International oil companies (IOCs) are calling for further clarification of Algeria's hydrocarbons regime, with continued confusion about a new
windfall profits tax. A new hydrocarbons law was passed in July 2005, but key changes were made a year later, including a proposal for the new tax.
A
windfall profits tax is in the air, and we've seen what happens to other companies that dare to resist Congressional intimidation.
Windfall Profits Tax. Several bills introduced would impose taxes on oil companies in light of record profits recorded as a result of the crude and gasoline price run-up.