Freeze, I never said I wanted my oil or anything else for free. You are the one looking for a free ride. You agree with taking money out of working American pockets so the oil companies can lavish their executives with the spoils of windfall profits. Nice.
Iraq Update 45 More
- Thread starter djv
- Start date
Oil in 1956 was 30 cents a gal-- the price today adjusted for inflation would be $2.02
Cost of oil will cause prices to go up and down--taxes on are constant--
In the past week, quarterly earnings were announced for the three largest integrated oil and gas producers in the nation. The most recent media attention is directed towards the earnings report from Exxon Mobil. (NYSE:XOM) These earnings come on the heels of last week?s announcements by ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) Based on preliminary SEC filings, these companies reported combined annual corporate gross earnings of $108.2 billion, throughout the course of 2005.
It is important to remember that net income reported on financial statements, is the result of subtracting income-based taxes from corporate gross earnings. Before shareholders receive a return on their investment, the government takes its significant share off the top.
During 2005, these three companies paid a combined corporate income tax burden of $44.3 billion on their reported gross earnings. Compared to last year?s combined corporate income taxes of $29.7 billion, their burden for 2005 has increased by 49.2 percent and follows the overall trend of escalating corporate tax collections in the United States. In addition to corporate income taxes, the same companies paid or remitted over $114.5 billion in other taxes in 2005, including franchise, payroll, property, severance and excise taxes.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1321.html
Then add to that the payroll taxes and 100's of thousands of "middle class employees they provide jobs for that DO pay taxes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The group of zero-tax filers is growing rapidly because of the Bush tax cuts. It was 29 million in 2000, and it will be 44 million in 2004, a 50 percent increase. (See Table 1.)
Table 1: Growing Share of Zero-Tax Filers
Number of Zero-tax Filers
(in Millions)
Zero-tax Filers as a Percentage of All Filers
1980
18.6
19.8%
1985
16.7
16.5%
1990
21.5
19.0%
1995
26.7
22.6%
2000
29.9
23.1%
2004 est.
44.0
33.0%
Source: IRS Statistics of Income and Tax Foundation estimate.
In addition to these zero-tax filers, roughly 14 million individuals and families will earn some income but not enough to be required to file a tax return. When these non-filers are added to the zero-tax filers, they add up to 58 million income-earning households who will be paying no income taxes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now Stevie when you constantly refer the average wage earner somehow you must be getting them confused with this non-tax paying element---would you be curious who makes up these
millions of --as you say "middle class" take a gander---
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/206.html
Maybe you could define who you think the middle class is?
Would it not be fair to assume most in middle class would pay taxes?
Cost of oil will cause prices to go up and down--taxes on are constant--
In the past week, quarterly earnings were announced for the three largest integrated oil and gas producers in the nation. The most recent media attention is directed towards the earnings report from Exxon Mobil. (NYSE:XOM) These earnings come on the heels of last week?s announcements by ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) Based on preliminary SEC filings, these companies reported combined annual corporate gross earnings of $108.2 billion, throughout the course of 2005.
It is important to remember that net income reported on financial statements, is the result of subtracting income-based taxes from corporate gross earnings. Before shareholders receive a return on their investment, the government takes its significant share off the top.
During 2005, these three companies paid a combined corporate income tax burden of $44.3 billion on their reported gross earnings. Compared to last year?s combined corporate income taxes of $29.7 billion, their burden for 2005 has increased by 49.2 percent and follows the overall trend of escalating corporate tax collections in the United States. In addition to corporate income taxes, the same companies paid or remitted over $114.5 billion in other taxes in 2005, including franchise, payroll, property, severance and excise taxes.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1321.html
Then add to that the payroll taxes and 100's of thousands of "middle class employees they provide jobs for that DO pay taxes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The group of zero-tax filers is growing rapidly because of the Bush tax cuts. It was 29 million in 2000, and it will be 44 million in 2004, a 50 percent increase. (See Table 1.)
Table 1: Growing Share of Zero-Tax Filers
Number of Zero-tax Filers
(in Millions)
Zero-tax Filers as a Percentage of All Filers
1980
18.6
19.8%
1985
16.7
16.5%
1990
21.5
19.0%
1995
26.7
22.6%
2000
29.9
23.1%
2004 est.
44.0
33.0%
Source: IRS Statistics of Income and Tax Foundation estimate.
In addition to these zero-tax filers, roughly 14 million individuals and families will earn some income but not enough to be required to file a tax return. When these non-filers are added to the zero-tax filers, they add up to 58 million income-earning households who will be paying no income taxes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now Stevie when you constantly refer the average wage earner somehow you must be getting them confused with this non-tax paying element---would you be curious who makes up these
millions of --as you say "middle class" take a gander---
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/206.html
Maybe you could define who you think the middle class is?
Would it not be fair to assume most in middle class would pay taxes?
Last edited:
StevieD said:
Oh, more greed and envy from StevieDean. Another original post.
Funny how money they earn is somehow all the "working Americans". Why don't you just put that communist hat away for the rest of your life and join the profit making.
Greed and envy, greed and envy, greed and envy. No one should make anymore money than anyone else. Lets eliminate the incentive to make a profit.
Executives are there for a reason. The Exon CEO completely turned around the company and was paid a fraction at what he helped thousands of other people make. In doing this, he provided a service to you and I and provided health care, food, etc. etc. to thousands of other Americans. Yet you continue to berate him. I am sure he has also given a pretty penny or two to charity. What have you done for the country lately?
We better have folks pay there taxes Iraq is heading to 700 billion by end of this year. On the other hand some of these folks might be smarter then us . Not giving there money to people who throw it away.
Freeze, you are heading for a two class system here. Poor and rich. Not exactly what our forefathers had in mind. If you think the windfall profits being made by the oil companies are fair then once again you are not in step with the average working family.
dr. freeze said:
No, it really didn't answer my specific question. I'll ask it a different way.
Why should oil companies receive tax breaks that other companies don't?
Freeze, I think I'll ask you again, just to continue to prove a point against a conservative that only seems to continue to whine and complain about taxes without coming up with a solution. How much is a "fair tax rate" in your mind? Let's just start with the individual. Clearly, you are against our current tax rates - and keep avoiding my direct question for some reason. How much should everyone pay in taxes, if we pay too much? We have a great country - (the best on earth, right?) because of our laws, economic system and benefits reaped from taxation. At least I feel that way. Nobody wants to pay more in taxes, but taxes afford us to make this country a special place to live. We can't afford to do everything we want to accomplish as it is. Everyone has an opinion on what could be cut from budgets and expenditures, but how do we accomplish it? I don't know. I think things work pretty well the way they are now, more or less. And this talk about people losing incentive to make a profit is bullcrap. The upper class incomes have skyrocketed over the past few years, FAR surpassing the tax rates. These people are not having a hard time, and they are reaping the benefits of a society that affords them the opportunity to increase their wealth, BECAUSE of the system.
We can skip the corporate tax break question for now, as that really is pretty un-arguable in my opinion. The tax breaks for oil and energy companies were sold to us because these companies could build more refineries and distribution channels with the money. These breaks were scripted by these executives in the White House in tandem with Dick Cheney. And here we sit with no real refinery plans or distribution channels being announced to help with anything. There may have been something, I just haven't seen it. What I have seen is unheard of profits at a time when the price of oil is at very high levels. It doesn't cost them much more to produce the oil, does it? So they must be making a lot of money selling the oil to somebody. Oh yeah...us. So, were the execs, Cheney and Bush lying to us about the reasons for the incentives? Has something else come up to prohibit these things from happening? I don't dispute the right of a company to make a profit. I do dispute the last tax breaks because they have not been used in the way they were sold to us. Especially since they were a major part in getting them pushed through.
We can skip the corporate tax break question for now, as that really is pretty un-arguable in my opinion. The tax breaks for oil and energy companies were sold to us because these companies could build more refineries and distribution channels with the money. These breaks were scripted by these executives in the White House in tandem with Dick Cheney. And here we sit with no real refinery plans or distribution channels being announced to help with anything. There may have been something, I just haven't seen it. What I have seen is unheard of profits at a time when the price of oil is at very high levels. It doesn't cost them much more to produce the oil, does it? So they must be making a lot of money selling the oil to somebody. Oh yeah...us. So, were the execs, Cheney and Bush lying to us about the reasons for the incentives? Has something else come up to prohibit these things from happening? I don't dispute the right of a company to make a profit. I do dispute the last tax breaks because they have not been used in the way they were sold to us. Especially since they were a major part in getting them pushed through.
kosar said:
i know this wasn't directed to me but i think any tax break given to any corporation for any reason is appaling (sp?)....
