FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2008
CONTACT:
Brian Kennedy (202) 346-8826
Chris Tucker (202) 346-8825

Washington, DC – Institute for Energy Research (IER) president Thomas Pyle issued the following statement this afternoon subsequent to an announcement from the president-elect that the incoming administration will not seek to resurrect a Windfall Profits Tax plan designed to make American energy more expensive and difficult to produce:

“A windfall profits tax is bad policy at any price, and the history books are filled with examples to prove it. The president-elect’s decision to reverse course on imposing this Carter-era burden on those who explore for and produce American energy is a heartening development – both for consumers and an economy struggling to claw its way out of recession. And although the president-elect’s spokesman was eager to cite oil’s recent drop in price as the reason for this shift in policy, I hope the real explanation can be traced back to the millions of American jobs that would be lost under such a tax, and the billions of barrels of oil we’d lose the ability to produce as a result of it.”

NOTE: The Houston Chronicle reported today, quoting a spokesman for the president-elect, that the incoming administration will no longer move forward on plans to target America’s energy producers with a punitive Windfall Profits Tax, reversing an earlier position and suggesting the price of crude oil was a key reason for the switch.

The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit organization that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. IER maintains that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of individuals and society.

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www.InstituteforEnergyResearch.org