Yeah, I know I’m bloggy today, but lots of tax-related stuff keeps popping up. Like this unsurprising news that the windfall profits tax on oil companies, blogged about here yesterday, again failed to go anywhere.
With the 51-to-43 tally earlier today, the Senate bill came up nine votes short of the 60 needed
to proceed to actual debate on the measure, officially known as S. 3044 or the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008. Money raised by the tax would have gone to support research into renewable energy efforts.
Of course, Senators on both sides of the aisle got what they wanted: political rhetoric.
Republicans labeled the bill "a gimmick," arguing that it would simply depress domestic oil production.
Democrats called the stalling of the bill a "major missed opportunity to finally discuss energy independence."
Get ready to hear those and similar phrases all the way to the voting booth on Nov. 4.
More on the vote at Politico.com, Associated Press, MarketWatch and Bloomberg.
