its a good thing we have some reasonable people in the senate. 2 reasons this bill was a bad idea
1. taxing corporations doesn't work. the tax would have been passed on to the consumer in the form of a price hike.
2. oil companies aren't making the huge profits people think they are. look at their profit margins versus any other industry
http://biz.yahoo.com/p/s_qpmu.html
(it is under basic materials). the guys drilling are making pretty good money, but that is VERY dangerous work. the actual oil co's are making 4 or 5 percent. oil companies are making less per gallon than our government with the currently existing taxes.
this "lets raise taxes to lower prices" concept just boggles the mind.
---edit---
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/e...liams_edit.html
QUOTE
According to Department of Energy data, from 1977 to 2004, federal and state governments extracted $397 billion by taxing the profits of the largest oil companies and an additional $1.1 trillion in taxes at the pump—that's nearly three times what the oil industry made in profits over that same period.
