WASHINGTON, DC (WSAU) — Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin is cosponsoring legislation designed to bring relief to Americans paying higher gas prices by taxing oil companies to prevent price gauging.
The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax would tax oil companies that produce more than 300,000 barrels of oil per day at a rate equal to 50 percent of the difference between the current price of a barrel of oil and the pre-pandemic average price per barrel between 2015 and 2019, a period when big oil companies were already earning large profits.
According to a release from Baldwin’s office, that that could generate up to $45 billion per year at the price of $120 per barrel. That money would then be returned to taxpayers making under $75,000 annually filing single or $150,000 filing jointly. Single filers would then see about $240 annually, with those filing jointly getting $360 each year.
The rebate would be paid quarterly and would phase out for those making above $75,000/$150,000.
Other Democrats who have signed on to the proposal include Colorado’s Michael Bennett, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, who often sides with the Democrats.
