Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Taxing Oil's Monopoly Profits

I've never heard of Raymond J. Learsy but he's apparently a former commodities trader and somewhat of an expert on oil trade and OPEC. He writes in the Huffington Post about Taxing Oil's Monopoly Profits. I don't know nearly enough to have an opinion on this topic. On the one hand the profits are huge and the oil prices are high (well kinda, not really historically or compared to other countries who tax oil to dissuade use, but still everyone in the US is complaining about it) and the budget is way out of whack. On the other hand the profits were fair and square and having an arbitrary tax on a successful industry seems wrong. On the other other hand as this article points out, the industry isn't all that fair and square. I found it an interesting read.

I'm a few weeks behind on the economist, though I can guess their position. :)

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