Saul Sterman

Houston to Obama: Smell the Oil

As allured to in this article, by defining incorrectly (or leaving it in vague terms), the term "windfall profit taxes" are being misused by politicians in order to create their own war chest or perhaps worse.
See: online.wsj.com/article...

The American public needs to be educated about this and understand the difference between 'excise tax', 'excess profit tax', ('windfall tax' - non U.S. term - which is the Government giving back!) and 'windfall profit tax'. The term 'windfall profit tax' has been misused many times.
The Carter (1980) "windfall profit tax" as it was called was NOT a windfall profit tax at all! It was an excise tax. Today people are confusing this with 'excess profit tax'. In other words, Senator Obama is using the term incorrectly when talking about a 'windfall profits tax' when he really means to say an 'excess profits tax'. The latter is reserved for wartime etc.