Resources on Oil Industry Windfall Profit Taxes

With gas prices on the rise, members of Congress have renewed calls for a “windfall profit” tax on U.S. oil companies. However, previous Tax Foundation research cautions against these taxes, illustrating that they are both economically harmful and a poor revenue source.

“America’s last experiment with windfall profits taxes in the 1980s proved to be economically harmful,” said staff economist Jonathan Williams. “The tax not only failed to raise a fraction of the revenue forecasted, but also stunted domestic oil production.”

For previous research on windfall profits, please see the following:

Tax Foundation Commentary and Op-Eds

• Crude Economics: Windfall Profits Taxes Hurt Consumers at the Pump
• The Windfall Profit-Taxers Are Back
• Who Profits at the Pump?
• Audio Commentary: Are Windfall Profits Taxes Good Economics”?
• The Consequences of a Windfall Profits Tax
• Windfall Taxes Hit Retirees Hard
• Windfall Profits Taxes A Good Revenue Source?
• Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling on Windfall Profit Taxes

Tax Foundation Analysis and Studies

• Oil Company Profits and Tax Collections: Does the U.S. Need a New Windfall Profits Tax?
• Large Oil Industry Tax Payments Undercut Case for Windfall Profits Tax
• State and Federal Treasuries “Profit” More from Gasoline Sales than U.S. Oil Industry
• The Oil Excise Tax: Another Government Windfall
• Impact of the Excess Profits Tax of 1952
• Financing Defense: Is An Excess Profits Tax the Solution?
• Excess Profits Taxation: A Compilation of Materials on Excess Profits Taxation

Studies from Other Organizations

• Salvatore Lazzari, “The Windfall Profit Tax on Crude Oil: Overview of the Issues.” Congressional Research Service Report for Congress (September 12, 1990).

For more on gas prices and taxes, please visit our Gasoline Taxes section.