wasilvers said:
I'm taking another position here - just because big brother can't have his cake and eat it too.
The Governement charges a spill tax on EACH barrel of oil pumped. This tax was 8 cents a gallon - at just about 5,000,000 barrels a day production in the US alone, that's $146 million dollars a year supposedly taxed and held as spill cleanup funds. Who knows what they do with this money, but they've been collecting it for years. If they charge a spill tax, it doesn't seem right that BP (who has paid this tax religeously) should be required to pay for every dime of the cleanup. Isn't this double taxation?
Big brother just voted to raise this tax by 400% - or over HALF A BILLION dollars a year in cleanup funds.
BP's interest in stopping the leak is only financial- oil lost to the sea is not $ in their pocket. Now they also have a PR nightmare on their hands because of their foolishness.
Just a tax guy with an opinion...
If what BP is being charged were a tax, I'd probably agree with you,
IF this mess falls under the definition in that tax statute of the word "spill".
But they are being fined for negligence and deliberately sidestepping or bending safety regulations for financial gain. They gambled.... we lost, they have to pay and pay and pay and pay until it's clear to all the oil companies that we will not tolerat this any longer and that it is not worth the risk. Even if we have to bankrupt a couple of them in the process to make a point. Big business should not be permitted to influence government. It's a recipe for disaster because their interests and missions are diametrically opposed.
Just an old hippie with an opinion. :wink: