1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Today I write in favor of passage of the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, House and Senate versions. While I prefer more progressive and elegant solutions like a carbon fee and dividend, let’s get a regressive flat carbon tax on these polluters put into in place right now. Then perhaps they’ll come to the table on carbon free and dividend. The case for the windfall tax is easy to see: While Americans are paying $6 or $7 a gallon at the pump, oil companies are paying out dividends. That is not a supply crisis. That is a choice. As Senator Whitehouse, one of the bills authors put it, the cost of producing oil did not change. What changed is what Big Oil decided to charge more. A 50-percent-per-barrel tax on profits above the 2015-2019 average is a targeted, proportionate response, and the revenues go back to consumers as a rebate. This is exactly the kind of policy that matches the scale of the problem. Ordinary Americans are being asked to sacrifice because of our current incompetent government and a useless war against Iran. Oil companies should sacrifice too. Support this bill, its tax, and make sure it moves forward as swiftly as practicable. I’m waiting for my rebate by these corrupt fossil fuel companies. Thank you.