Apparently new legislation recently went through Congress increasing taxes on petroleum, a tax paid by the oil companies. While I agree with the intended purpose of this legislation (raise money to take care of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico), I worry about the long-term effects on other things. For example, couldn't this cause a spike in gasoline prices? Oil companies will now be making less money per barrel, so it is fully possible that they will raise gas prices to make up for that loss. Unintended consequences plague all government actions, and the article I read even quotes Christopher Guith, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce's energy institute, as saying, "There hasn't been any sort of deliberation on" how this legislation would impact the economics of the country.
As I said above, I agree that money needs to be raised to clean up the oil spill, especially because BP does not seem to be doing much in that regard. However, I am concerned that there was no deliberation even on the laws most obvious, unintended consequences. Am I being paranoid or quite reasonable? Any one who has more information on this legislation, please feel free to share said information with me.
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