Punitive Oil Taxes Will Give Us Less Oil, Not More

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants the new Congress to impose billions of dollars in additional taxes on oil and natural gas companies. Others are calling for a windfall oil-profits tax.
Never mind that the top 27 U.S. oil companies have seen their annual taxes rise to more than $100 billion — an 80% increase from 2004 to 2006.

We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the 1970s — discriminatory taxes, price controls, and picking winners and losers among fuels — none of which have benefited consumers. We face far tougher energy competition and increased dependence on imported oil today as a result of those mistakes.

What our country needs is an energy policy that learns from our mistakes and attempts to ensure a secure energy future for all of us. We need to increase and diversify our oil and gas supplies, both within this country and overseas. We need a greater commitment to increased conservation and energy efficiency. And we need all the energy that is economically viable, drawing upon the full range of sources, including alternative energies.

To do any less is to risk losing ground in the fierce global competition for economic and energy security.

Bottom Line: We need tax policies that promote oil exploration and production, not policies that hinder them. If we impose higher taxes on U.S. oil companies, it's likely that we'll get less oil from them in the future.

~From my article in Investor's Business Daily