Democrats hope to use anger over BP disaster to pass tax on oil production

Los Angeles Times / latimes.com ^ | June 27, 2010 | 9:40 p.m. | By Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times

[Smokin' Joe]

When the oil boom of the late '70s died, it did not 'die' the same everywhere.

North Dakots had just passed an extraction tax, and the rig count here went from 212 in the Basin to 2.

Yep, two.

When you couldn't buy a house a year before, the tough things in the nearest town to come by were U-Hauls, converted pickup box trailers, anything to haul your stuff--the exodus was that intense.

That was 1982, the crash took 4 years to hit elsewhere as badly, they only lost half their jobs in '82 and held on 'till '86. Needless to say, property values plummeted (60-75%), and people discarded whole households of furniture they could not haul away. Friends who stayed scrounged three upgrades of furniture stacked by dumpsters for their appartment in two months, and ended up with some pretty nice stuff, but the sad part was that someone had had to abandon it after paying premium prices for it.

Sure, California has a more diverse economy, but if California is that desperate to drive any new oil activity away, this is a sure way to do it--get greedy. If there is a small and relatively reasonable tax, it might be better tolerated, but somehow, I doubt any proposal will be so humble.

[bilhosty]

What they need to cover there budget are taxes on the LA Times and the SF Chronicle and on the networks for each of their affiliates. I wonder why Republicans are so stupid as they do not see this?

[Wonder Warthog]

“All these reprobates can do is TAX. They serve only themselves.”

Well, they do other things, too. I was shocked to learn the following:

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=977

Note the party in power when this little tidbit happened.