What do you think the government will tax once we get rid of the ';evil'; oil companies tax revenues?

That depends. How will we get rid of the tax revenues? Will we allow them to earn profits that are not taxed? Or will we eliminate the tax revenues by eliminating the profits? Would that have been by driving them out of business or by nationalizing the oil industry?





We deal with each possibility separately:





1) Profits not taxed: It's hard to imagine the government ceasing taxation of oil company profits without a radical change in the philosophy of the role of government. I envision that a cessation of oil company profits would accompany drastic reductions to government activity that would allow reduction to tax revenues. Absent such drastic paradigm shift, I suppose that the government could increase income taxes or increase other consumption (sales) taxes. We will pay for how much government we get one way or another.





2) Eliminating oil company profits by driving them out of business: Well, that depends further upon whether the companies were driven out of business by market forces (i.e. reduction in the demand for oil via reduced consumption or alternative energy) or if they were artificially driven out of business by government intervention. If it were market forces, I suppose the government could tax the newly companies that take the place of the oil industry. If it were by government intervention and there were no alternative energy sources, there wouldn't be much to tax. Most of our lives depend upon plentiful energy sources. Their disappearance would spell the end of most economic human activity (and the end of a lot of human activity period, since a lot of people would die).





3) Nationalizing oil industries: It has been done in other nations. If this were done, the government would likely keep much of the revenues to fund its activities. So in a way, the industry would still contain hidden taxes. To the extent that nationalization marked more central control (the oil industry is already heavily regulated), I believe that economic activity would be hampered. There would be less for the government to tax.What do you think the government will tax once we get rid of the ';evil'; oil companies tax revenues?
If you want government, you gotta tax. Doesn't matter where you are politically, you're for some form of government spending. Be that welfare or war, virtually everyone is pro-tax. Anyone who claims to be anti-tax is a liar, unless they are political anarchists.





So, if a revenue stream ends, taxes will need to be charged elsewhere. Either by increasing them. Or finding something new.





';Sin taxes'; are popular. Tax alcohol and tobacco. And... if you think about it... this is exactly how oil will be ';punished.'; Not by making oil products illegal, but by having high taxes on them.What do you think the government will tax once we get rid of the ';evil'; oil companies tax revenues?
what are you talking about? the oil companies can start paying tax (they have had tax freedom for 30 years). There isn't any need to charge consumers .80 cents for every dollar on a gas fill-up. There is also no need for paying farmers not to grow food and there are thousands of government programs that use tax payer money I could certainly do without. The same people who complain about taxes are the same people who cry for support to Darfur and more money to stem cell labs and home mortgage bailouts... where do you people think that money comes from?





Libs should stop worrying about the profits in private companies and worry about the out-of-control spending in government.
Obama has already promised income tax increases larger than those Hillary would impose. Expect further tax increases on: phone %26amp; utility bills; gasoline (to ';encourage'; us to reduce consumption, or for replacement of our crumbling infrastructure); cigarettes; corporate %26amp; business income taxes (which will drive out more jobs); social security %26amp; medicare; a ';windfall profits tax'; on retirement savings like your IRA/401K/etc.; a national sales tax in addition to state %26amp; local sales taxes; a continuation of the Alternative Minimum Tax because it gets a lot more money out of middle class; taxes on ';foreign investments'; and confiscation of ';taking money out of the country'; (forget taking a little cash with you if you take a vacation!).
It depends. The government just waits to see which business the American people will get upset with, and then they feel they have permission to tax it until it leaves the country. Then the very people who taxed the business to death will complain there is not enough jobs.
They will tax the air we breathe, and then after that they'll start to tax us for walking in ';their'; country. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but they'd like to.
If a socialist like Obama or Clinton is elected then they will just tax EVERYTHING





Change and Hope = HOPE you have some CHANGE left over after getting taxed into poverty
Hope we don't do away with all of it. A big share of Exxon's profits are paying GM benefits!