(Old Belgrade News Editorial 9/23/05)
I’m not trying to defend the practices or business philosophy of oil companies. I don’t like the price I pay for gas, either. But let’s see the issue more clearly: It is government that causes most of the problem.
Government places huge burdens on oil producers, all of which show up at the pump price and are paid by the consumer, you and me.
There hasn’t been a new refinery built in the last couple decades because of environmental restrictions, thereby limiting supply.
Truckers pay huge amounts of highway taxes to deliver to retailers.
Every company along the distribution chain pays payroll taxes, income taxes, business property taxes, and accountants to figure out these taxes.
Not to mention a full complement of lawyers to needed to fend off lawsuits and interpret a maze of regulations and laws, environmentalists chaining themselves to equipment, and the high cost and uncertainty of developing new sources of fossil fuels.
Myself, I wouldn’t want to be in the oil business.
The problem is the Left places the needs of government front and center every time. They fret over possible lost government revenue, but seem to care little about the pocketbooks of citizens who pay all these taxes.
The Left thinks that because something can be taxed, it ought to be. They seem to be opposed to every initiative that even hints at lowering the financial fingerprint of government in peoples’ lives.
The Left is against lowering gas taxes at the pump because oil companies apparently receive too many tax breaks. You know, the eeeeevil Exxon-Mobil posted record profits, as if the current and possibly temporary success of this company is a bad thing that must be stopped.
Thing is, the legally obtained profit of any company is no one's business. Yes, oil companies might be good at looking out for themselves, but that’s what they’re supposed to do.
They are not formed to serve the interests of government, for charity, or to embrace the current politically correct pop culture fad. Their purpose is to sell a product that people will buy at as high of a profit as possible. If they do not do this, they will fail, and some other company will supply the demand.
This is called capitalism.
The last time I checked, government at all levels received 46 cents in taxes for every gallon of gas sold, in addition to all the costs passed down to the consumer caused by government meddling.
No oil company, distributor, or retailer comes even close to the government’s take. It seems to me that it isn’t the oil companies who are greedy, it’s government.
I don’t need the government to rescue me from businesses. I need it to get out of the way and let the market forces determine what we pay.
We consumers have all the power, as determined by our purchasing choices. That’s the way it should be.
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