A Counterproductive Tax

Kudos to Robert Murphy, president of the Institute for Energy Research. In a letter published in The Washington Post today, Murphy opines, "The brink of recession is no time for Congress to be punishing oil producers, who provide not only the energy that fuels our economy but also millions of jobs and billions of dollars in investment that accrue to the benefit of millions of Americans."

Yet, Congress is considering legislation that would increase taxes on oil companies despite the fact that their overall effective tax rate of 37 percent already is higher than the top US corporate income tax rate of 35 percent.

Murphy isn't alone in his criticism of the tax bill. Here's what Steve Forbes recently wrote about it.

Raising taxes on oil producers would discourage new domestic energy production, hurt energy consumers and threaten U.S. jobs.