Wisconsin Going After Big Oil

The devil is always in the details. To some, it might sound prudent to tax oil companies to support infrastructure spending. But that isn't what's really happening here. You have to read down to find that.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Gov. Jim Doyle proposes taxing big oil companies more than $270 million over the next two years to help pay for the state's transportation needs.

Doyle said the assessment will equate to $1.50 per barrel of oil sold in the state, and the companies would be prohibited from passing the tax on to customers at the pump. Violations carry a criminal penalty of up to six months in prison.

The plan is a way to get oil companies to contribute to the rising costs of the state's infrastructure, Doyle said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The money for infrastructure was there, in a transportation fund. Ultimately, it's still a general tax, albeit a hidden one. Unless of course they go the next step and start dictating gasoline prices. It appears Wisconsin may have something in common with Venezuela ... and Hillary Clinton, too.

Todd Berry, president of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said Doyle's administration has used $1.1 billion from the transportation fund to balance the state budget.

"These are the folks that created the transportation deficit," he said, adding that it remained to be seen how the proposed assessment could be applied without costing consumers more.

Similar assessments on oil companies are in place in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, said Doyle spokesman Matt Canter. A similar plan was also introduced in Wisconsin by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson in the 1990s but failed to pass, Doyle said.

Comments

[templar knight]

I don't think my company sells any oil in Wisconsin, but if we did, I would see to it that none of our oil would ever hit the gas tanks of that state. And I would hope every company would feel the same way.

If prices are prevented from rising in Wisconsin, then prices will have to go up in other areas to offset the tax in Wisconsin. Other states should not have to pay for Wisconsin's infrastructure, and I feel this tax is illegal. I wonder if there has been a Federal court test. Does anyone know?

[Purple Avenger]

"the companies would be prohibited from passing the tax on to customers at the pump."

I'm old enough to remember the mid-70's gas lines. I think its outstanding that a whole new generation of American's will get to experience that too.

[scarshapedstar]

"If prices are prevented from rising in Wisconsin, then prices will have to go up in other areas to offset the tax in Wisconsin."

Those oil companies are barely breaking even as it is!

[Don Carne]

Templar is right. No oil co. should sell in Wisconsin. Then when the elecrtic generators run down they can sit in the dark and figure out what to do. And then when they run out of heating oil they can sit in the cold and curse the darkness.

[templar knight]

It's funny how liberals, after growing up in the US, and supposedly getting an education, have no damn idea how markets work. Now you know why I have my children in private schools.

[Scrapiron]

The liberals aren't really liberals. They're full blown communist in sheeps clothing. They hoping to get another idiot as president (See Dimmy Carter). I remember the long gas lines, the odd/even numbered license plates and the 5/10 gallon limit on purchases of gasoline. It's coming again and will be far worse than the 70's. We've got too many idiots in government that were put there by the feeble minded Dhimmi's that will vote for anything with a D after the name. They are so stupid they would and will sell they're children into slavery.

Wisconsin should be boycotted by all energy companies and see how the citizens like that.

[daveinboca]

I hope Feingold grabs onto this and shows the world he is a practicing Communist leftardo. Of course, the oil companies could cease operations in Cheese-headland and force this bolshie govner to retract his insane Luddite tendencies.

[Justin Miller]

I really think that the Democrats have every right to want to attack Big Oil. But the way they're going at it is all wrong. They look stupid when they want to try to cheat and steal form the Big Oil's profits. If they want to take a bite out of Big Oil, the Democrats need to become a competitor. They need to encourage and push alternative energies (ethanol, wind, solar, electric cars, commuter trains, mass transit, etc.). This will in turn eat into the Big Oil profits and cause them to tumble. Democrats need to get serious and attack Big Oil in a reasonable manner, not by acting like robin hood.