Windfall Profit Tax on the American Consumer

I really don't have to say much more than is already said here on Obama's idea of a "windfall profit tax" on the oil companies. I willsay a few things, though. If the idea is to tax profits above 10%, then the proposal is completely empty, since that was the profit rate for Exxon, the most profitable US oil company. That means the government wouldn't take a dime from Exxon (which they shouldn't, anyway), but would be telling the American people that they are now really sticking it to the oil companies. How cynically manipulative can you be?

The next thing to note is something I've said in a previous discussion on the Fair Tax, which is that companies don't pay taxes. If the government were to raise taxes on the oil companies, the oil companies would raise prices to make up for the lost money -- thus eating up the entirety of the $1000 per person Obama is promising.

It looks like Obama's ideas are as empty as his rhetoric.