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SamuelRSmith on 24 January 2012
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HappySqurriel said:
SamuelRSmith said:
HappySqurriel said:
Being that their profits are so high, and their margins are higher than oil companies, I expect to see congress calling for a windfall profit tax on Apple any day now ...


Nah, calls for windfall taxes tend to only be on those companies that aren't favoured well by the public and press. Windfall taxes seem to be more about winning votes and less about generating revenue.

 

EDIT: Actually, thinking about it, that tends to be the case for the majority of tax policies.

I know, I was mostly being sarcastic ...

I don't really understand it, but (for some reason) oil companies seem to be hated by almost everyone; and, in almost every way, face a double standard from the public.


Yeah, I know from your posting history that your head's screwed on when it comes to this stuff, so the post actually surprised me a bit. It's a shame sarcasm doesn't translate well through reading alone.

Oil companies are hated because people, nowadays, believe that they're entitled to everything (thanks to, let's be honest, politicians and the media). Oil companies produce so much that people need that they seem to think that we should get this stuff for free, we don't, and so they hate the companies. Bang this in with inflationary pressures causing costs to go up, and people not understanding the cause of this, and the whole environmental movement, you get the perfect hate-soup, so to speak.