Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
The government takes over 40 cents a gallon in taxes for gasoline, far more than the profit per gallon made by oil refiners like Exxon. And the government doesn’t make any gas for you.
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
8 Comments:
Great quote.
But the oil refiners do not provide me with any roads or bridges either.
So what is the difference?
Sometimes the government sells us bridges to nowhere?
At least we know what we are getting with the refineries.
Reply to spencer:
The difference is this > when the goverbloat 'provides' roads and bridges they usually do so @ a cost far in excess of what the private sector would charge.
Remember, there can be no government waste without excessive taxation.
And what do they provide us with when they tax tobacco products even more excessively? ... and then turn around and claim tobacco corporations (who pass the expenses onto the tobacco users, one of whom I am not, but thusly, it's a hidden tax) owe them money for undefined "health expenses", and put that money into the general revenue ("health expenses" -- yeah, right).
Oh, but wait, it gets more fun! Then, when the one-time tobacco "tax" is gone, all the programs that were funded from the general revenue now either have to be dropped, or more new taxes have to be put over on the citizens to pay for these "now essential" programs.
Wait, wait, wait... in the final bit of government fun, the tobacco growers are either having problems selling their crops, or are forced to switch to much less profitable crops, and "need government help" because of their losses. (At one point, tobacco paid more than three times the next-best selling "common" crop -- Tobacco paid, IIRC, $2000 per acre, Corn $600/a, Soybeans $400/a, and most others $200 or less... this excludes "exotics" like ginseng, etc)
GOVERNMENTS SCREW THINGS UP.
Look at the current concern over agricultural products converted to alcohol. The only possible* sensible form of this is to use agricultural waste products (corn husks, for example), but that's not what the government mandated programs to focus on... and the net result has been across the board higher food prices -- people in other countries, dependent on our excess, going hungry -- more trees cut down and land cleared to plant now much-more valuable crops.
In short, it utterly violates the entire purpose of considering gasohol in the first place, and accomplishes not one valid, worthwhile aspect of the overall goal. THE GOVERNMENT SCREWED IT UP.
====================
* I say "possibly" -- I doubt if even converting AgWaste into gasohol is a good idea, but I'll ack the possibility.
It truly amazes me that people will defend the government and its tax and spend policies (dems and republicans)even to their own detriment.
Live From Las Vegas
The Masked Millionaire
Hmmm, it must merely be coincidence...
Nancy Pelosi said back on Monday, April 24, 2006: "With skyrocketing gas prices, it is clear that the American people can no longer afford the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress and its failure to stand up to Republican big oil and gas company cronies. Americans this week are paying $2.91 a gallon on average for regular gasoline – 33 cents higher than last month, and double the price than when President Bush first came to office"
What is interesting is that from Jan. of 2001 till Nov. of 2006 the retail price of a gallon of gasoline went up 78.8 cents...
From Nov. 2006 through March of 2008 the price of a gallon of gasoline rose $1.02...
Good job Madame Speaker, you sure showed those nefarious, 'Republican big oil and gas company cronies'...LOL!
U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Cents per Gallon)...
Has anyone heard of anybody who has taken the profits of the oil companies, added them all up, and then divided them out into the total amount of gas purchased by Americans per gallon for a year?
If we could do that, I think it would be easy to show that it would cut gas costs only a few cents.
Post a Comment
<< Home