Vt.'s Sanders pushes bill for excess-profits oil tax

May 08, 2008|Wilson Ring, Associated Press

MONTPELIER - US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is promoting a plan to address what he says are the root causes of record-high prices of gasoline and heating oil by imposing an excess-profits tax on oil companies and limiting speculation in oil futures.

The plan would provide some relief from the highest-ever energy prices being paid by Vermonters and people across the country, but the long-term goal is to develop alternative sources of energy, such as wind, solar, and other new technologies, he said.

Sanders, an independent, joined six Democratic senators who introduced the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008 yesterday.

His counterpart from Vermont, US Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, is also aiming to bring down the price of oil. Trying to bring the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries under US antitrust laws, he is planning to call oil industry executives before the Senate Judiciary Committee this month to talk about high oil prices.

Sanders suggested that oil prices have caused such pain nationwide that Republican lawmakers who have opposed earlier efforts to change national energy policy might be ready now to make changes.

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