Obama's Energy Stance Taxes the Brain

Originally published on Fox Business President Barack Obama said in a campaign speech Thursday that the reason you are paying a lot more at the gas pump is due not to supply or demand issues, or geopolitics, but because of tax breaks. “Oil companies are making more money right now than they've ever made,” the President said. “On top of the money they're getting from you at the gas station, they want some of your tax dollars as well. That doesn't make any sense. Does it make sense? It's inexcusable. It's time for this oil industry giveaway to end." But for an industry getting tax breaks, the companies are sure paying a lot of taxes. They paid $1 trillion in sales and excise taxes out of their revenues between 1981 and 2008, a total that exceeded their after-tax profits by 40%, according to data from the International Energy and the Energy Information Administration. That doesn't count federal or state income taxes. Continue reading this article here.