Monday, September 29, 2008

90% tax on oil companies

It amazes me that so many of you are in favor of a 90% tax, unless you want to destroy the military and oil companies.

First, you would have no new investment in the industries, for no sane person would risk money knowing that 90% of possible profits would be taxed.

Second, you would receive less tax revenue. For no same executive would show a profit. He or she would spend any potential profit by buying other assets. And those assets would not be to bring down the cost of production, for any savings gained would lost in taxes. No, they would buy real estate, or non-military and non-oil related companies. Things they could sell once the tax is reduced.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually we should nationalize totally the military contractors and oil companies, we'd save trillions in military costs if we the people owned the military again, and we would save trillions if we owned the oil companies too. There would be substantially less corruption in Congress and we would have used oil profits to invest in solar and wind decades ago. It makes no sense to have oil and military in private hands, they just milk the taxpayer.

Common Sense Joe said...

First, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shows that corruption would exist in any government run enterprise.

Second, there would be no incentive to reign down costs or increase efficiency if run by the government. If fact a dis-incentive would develop as people would try to get their friends and relatives on the payroll. If you develop a cost-plan based on percentage, that is an incentive to increase costs. If you figure out a way to save costs that would involve laying off people you would not implement it. If you have a plan that pays a straight salary, then the incentive is too increase the length to do the job.