Bo20990

Why I'm Anti a 'Windfall Profit Tax' on Big Oil

I came across something interesting to me. The following came from the Congressional Budget Office. Was prepared on May 18, 2007.... Everything you hear, the Members of the majority party are condemning the Bush Tax Cuts and constantly talk about doing away with the tax cuts and taxing the wealthy... They never tell you that small business owners who create the most jobs, with the way the tax code is structured, fall into the wealthy class. This makes it plain to see that we have a spending problem, not a taxing problem... No reason for entrepreneurs to invest and take a chance when the government is going to take away large portions of possible profits. Might as well buy the governments bonds and take what they'll give you...

Growth in Federal Tax Revenues From 2003 to 2006

Total federal revenues grew by about $625 billion, or 35 percent, between fiscal year 2003 and fiscal year 2006. CBO’s analysis of that increase in revenues since 2003 is necessarily preliminary because relevant data are not yet fully available. CBO examined the available data using the commonly employed method of analyzing the sources of revenue growth as a percentage of GDP. Had revenues grown at the same rate as the overall economy between 2003 and 2006, federal receipts would have increased by only $373 billion. The other $252 billion of the actual increase in revenues represents growth in excess of GDP growth. As a result, receipts as a share of GDP rose from 16.5 percent in 2003 to 18.4 percent in 2006, an increase of 1.9 percentage points.

Sources of Growth in Tax Revenues

That increase of 1.9 percentage point of GDP can be traced to changes in different types of revenues (see Table 2). The bulk of the revenue increase was associated with corporate income taxes: Revenues from corporate income taxes rose from 1.2 percent of GDP in 2003 (their lowest level since 1983) to 2.7 percent in 2006 (their highest level since 1978). That increase of 1.5 percentage points of GDP in corporate income tax revenues accounts for the bulk of the overall 1.9 percentage point rise in revenues. Revenues from individual income taxes increased 0.6 percentage points, from 7.3 percent of GDP in 2003 to 8.0 percent in 2006. And revenues from taxes other than corporate and individual income taxes were relatively stable over the period from 2003 to 2006, slipping 0.2 percentage points, from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent of GDP.

Board and Executive Compensation in S&P 500

Years ago when it became so obvious to me that boards of directors were nothing more than good old boys clubs, rubber stamps for corporate executives and every bit as greedy, I began to look in the proxy for the identities of the Compensation Committee. Every proxy I have voted since I have withheld my vote for those committee members and have encouraged others to do the same. May never have an affect but at least its something I can do to express my dissatisfaction...