|
 |
4/2/2009
I am not Big Oil
Tom Schmidt, was the first to testify. Made me sit up and take note at yesterday’s Joint Finance Committee public hearing in Appleton. (I blogged about it quite a bit – see those commentaries titled “Budget Hearing: …”) Tom is one of the owners of U.S. Oil, nearby in Combined Locks. A staple in the community since 1951. One of our own, kind of thing, an owner of independent service stations and a gas and oil supplier. It’s my understanding they know the oil markets as well as anybody. Experts, in our own backyard. Imagine.
Schmidt said:
“Passage of an oil profits tax will have devastating consequences to business, industry and the Wisconsin people.” And [now I’m paraphrasing a bit] big oil will not hesitate to divert product from Wisconsin. Though they have not said it outright, be assured many suppliers have put us on notice. Supplies will be short and prices will be higher. We will have to lose money on every gallon. Schmidt asked members of the Joint Finance Committee to do two things: 1) talk to economists to understand what an “oil profits tax” would do to oil prices and supplies in Wisconsin and 2) read their own Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s 2007 report. You remember. When this tax was proposed – and defeated – the first time. I suspect the report Schmidt referenced is the Fiscal Bureau’s Paper #761 issued May 31, 2007 Its 14 pages are pretty enlightening.
Some evidence suggests that regulating the prices that can be charged for fuel products could impact the supply of that product to the regulated area.
… an intervention in the pricing of fuel could impact [a] company's decisions on where to deliver fuel supply.
… During such tight fuel supply periods, the proposed anti-pass-through provision could put state fuel retailers at a disadvantage for fuel supply given its potential impact on profitability. It may be conceivable that, during periods of tight fuel supply, suppliers may choose to supply fuel to other states within the Midwest region rather than realize reduced profits in Wisconsin associated with having to absorb the cost of the oil company assessment. Such a decision could further tighten the fuel supply for certain retail outlets in the state, which could exacerbate the temporary fuel price spikes that typically occur during a tight fuel supply event. It could also lead to more frequent tight fuel supply events. It goes on to address in detail how the oil company assessment could affect fuel suppliers differently and various types of retailers differently. What a mess of profit losses for Wisconsin businesses.
While you’re at it, take a look at page 4 of this Fiscal Bureau paper (#763) that explains just how the Dept. of Revenue would audit an oil company to enforce the excess profits tax. It starts like this, acknowledging the difficulty of first figuring out how the industry works before they can figure out how to catch them passing the tax on to customers. Unbelievable!
DOR will consult industry experts to learn more about industry practices. Department staff expect economists with industry knowledge to have information and practical suggestions about industry accounting and pricing practices. Oh my. Oh my. And the enforcement gets excessively bureaucratic and labor-intensive from there.
Later in the afternoon, a representative of Quality State Oil, Sheboygan, told a tale similar to Schmidt’s. I saw, and talked to Chuck Van Zeeland of Van Zeeland Oil, another one of our hometown Big Oil Villains. (I didn’t hear him testify.) Still later, and quite apart from the first two testifiers, a representative of Kwik Trip spoke of unintended consequences. Over 35 business people and employees tromped down one aisle, all clad in red t-shirts emblazoned with “I AM NOT BIG OIL!.” And still more of the bright-shirted folks peppered the audience. I was moved by the display of passion and I guess, by what almost seemed like innocence. Why, the speaker asked, would a supplier sell product to WI when they would make less money? "I strongly oppose the oil companies’ profits tax, not only as an employee, but also as a Wisconsin resident.”
The whole day was great. Only in America. I’m sure Committee members are getting pretty tired of these meetings by now (only one more, Friday), but I loved it.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Now I know what jobs were taken by those kids who slept during my economics class ... They went on to politics.
The very same people who firmly believe that taxing cigarettes will decrease smoking, just do not comprehend that gasolins has absolutely the same characteristics.
They are also the same block heads that think they can tax something and the tax will never be passed on.. they are correct in only one aspect, that it will happen IF gasoline is not sold here...and the speaker is posting a warning.
I for one, would love to figure out how to pipe the air from the capital building in Madison to my gas tank. It is loaded with biofuels !
Rich Carlstedt (Fri Apr 03 00:20:58 2009)
|
|
Blog Archives
| 2010 |
  September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Solberg: Healing After an Abortion
• Basketball fans eyeing extension of Miller Park sales tax
• Nanny sex-ed bill goes to Doyle
• A first. Village limits pension contribution for employees
• Nanny State update: Toothbrushing mandated
• Obama pushes education inflation
• WI Investment Board votes to borrow to juice up returns
• So Republicans have brought nothing to the table?
• You have got to be kidding me
• Nygren: Governor Continues Terms of Failure in State of the State
• Sen. Fitzgerald: Governor down the wrong track at high speed
• Phosphorus is the new CO2. $Billions in Wisconsin
• More Obama giveaways
• A reprimand? Would you keep him on the job?
• Burri: Sarah Palin for Prez troubles me
• Quote of the Day – Obama after the pie-eating contest
• Populism, abused and trampled
• Fitzgerald: Senate Republicans Propose Real Job Creation Agenda
• Stripped down health insurance – it’s about time
• Ok GOP, scrap the Party of NO; time to lead
• No way Feingold is a Coakley. Is Wall a Brown?
• Burri: Conservatives off the chart for a RINO?
• Paltry quid pro quo?
• Doyle says ARRA has ‘created or retained’ 44,000 WI jobs
• Does most of the public fall for this stuff?
• When you get signatures, always get a couple extra
• Blame it on the outmoded computers
• Scott Brown victory does not scuttle health bill
• 8th Congressional Candidate Forum, Jan. 25
• Scott Walker Meet-and-greet, Monday, Jan. 18
• Aren’t consumers taxpayers too?
• MORE taxes on investment income - dreadful and wrong
• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
• Tax on banks is a really bad idea
• Roth, Savard on the stump, grassroots style
• Savard speaking in Appleton, 8 PM, Wed., Jan. 13.
• Rahmlow: Savard, Bies frontrunners for State Senate
• Burri: Failing Political Correctness 101
• School contracts and Race to the Top
• Senator Feingold worrisome and big red flags
• Psephological?
• This is really important. Contact Rep. Kagen. Now. Please.
• This is exactly what we need from Governor Doyle
• This guy is my hero
• Why am I not surprised?
• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
• Burri: Yup, Dems really are going to bypass a conference
• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
• Walker launches county accountability website
• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
|
| 2009 |
December
|
November
|
October
• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
• Ellis: costly automobile insurance laws must be rolled back
• If not Barrett, who?
• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
• A public option WON’T increase costs? That’s delusional!
• Appleton Schools budget meeting Monday
• Wisconsin should be screaming for accountability
• Burri: If anything, we need more obstructionism around here
• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
• How much do we bend over backward for seniors?
• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
• Rep. Kagen gets (almost) free health services
• I actually agree with Rep. Kagen
• Future Wisconsin Conference for Conservatives, October 10, Wauwatosa
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
|
| 2008 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
• Democrats are becoming supply siders??
• Further debunking Hillary myths
• WEAC has created an unsustainable monopoly
• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
• 'Operation Chaos' working?
• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
• Gov. Doyle's office not enamored with Freedom of Information
• Governor Doyle will never do it
• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
• You're threatening me about potholes?
• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
• Duh.
• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
• Guns, passion and "originality"
• How hard is it anyway, to shut down a government program?
• Voting is a PRIVILEGE. And so are property taxes....
• Guest Blog: Governor Doyle, cancel your Ireland trip
|
February
|
January
|
| 2007 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Lots of ideas. No money.
• The Cigarette Tax - "Poor Policy Instrument?"
• School budget Lite?
• Frankenstein - not in the library, but in the legislature
• A librarian, a legislator, a president
• $1.25/pack - NO, NO, NO, and NO
• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
|
| 2006 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
| 2000 |
May
|
|
