If you are not reading this from the Forward Thinking blog or from your feed aggregator, then it has been illegally scraped by an unscrupulous person who doesn't have the good sense to write their own posts.

Recent rising gas prices have been attributed to what’s called “flat production”. This simply means that although demand has increased, production by oil companies has not. It has remained the same. This leads to ever higher prices for the gas we buy at the pump.

I’m not opposed to companies making a profit. That’s why they’re in business. After all, they aren’t charity organizations. However, Big Oil seems to be gaming the system to the detriment of consumers. We are paying the windfall profits out of our own pockets. Some in Congress are proposing a “windfall profits tax” bill for Big Oil. This could be a double-edged sword. It could encourage Big Oil to open up more production and lower prices so they don’t have to pay billions in windfall profits taxes. On the other hand, it could cause them to raise prices even further to cover any additional taxes they may have to pay. Folks, that means it hurts us every day.

And, what would be done with the money from these taxes? It could be used for the public good, but most likely will be given to some program that doesn’t affect most consumers. It just lines the pockets of others. I’d love to see it put to use in development of alternative energy that consumers could use immediately. Not some pie in the sky, 40 years in the future program, but something we can get our hands on immediately.

If the tax passes, I propose the funds should be used to purchase and distribute whole house solar panels to benefit consumers. I also propose that a tax break be given to oil companies that vigorously pursue the rapid development of affordable, alternative energy.

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