Redstate

By patriotroom Posted in Taxes — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I recall reading somewhere recently that the oil companies only made about 9% profit on sales of gas. Certainly not a number worthy of all the spleen venting on the left. Then I found out that other industries like Food and Beverage or Banking have even higher profit margins. From Government is Not Your Daddy.

The oil companies actually pay for research and development, exploration, drilling, refining, storage, distribution, marketing, advertising, and defend themselves against craven politicians, all for 9 cents on the dollar. The government produces nothing and takes the tax money.

And how much is that, you ask?

From 1977-2004 the oil companies made $643 billion. The combined Federal and State taxes were $1.3 trillion. Yup, for every dollar earned by the oil companies, you pay two to Uncle Sam.

In fact, since 1977, there have been only three years (1980, 1981, and 1982) in which domestic oil industry profits exceeded government gas tax collections. In the remaining years, gasoline tax collections consistently exceeded oil industry profits, reaching a peak in 1995 when gas tax collections outpaced industry profits by a factor of 7.3.

Why nobody calls these bloodsucking politicians to task when they rail against BIG OIL baffles me.