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A Resolution of the County of Allegheny urging the United States Congress to evaluate the desirability of enacting a tax on a portion of oil companies' total net income, defined as income after accounting for all corporate actions, in order to pay for public transportation and necessary infrastructure improvements and maintenance.
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Whereas, the price of gasoline and other petroleum products continues to rise at a rate that greatly exceeds the rate of inflation, and these rising prices cause escalations in the costs of other goods and services available in the private sector as freight costs increase; and
Whereas, rising prices of gasoline and other petroleum products also affect the ability of local governments to provide for the needs of their residents, as the costs of gasoline for fleet vehicles, asphalt for roads, and diesel fuel for buses used for public transportation, among other necessary items, have increased; and
Whereas, even as the population of the United States and local governments attempt to come to grips with these rapid increases in costs occasioned by petroleum product cost increases, oil companies realize tremendous profits; and
Whereas, according to Hoover's reporting service, the oil industry's average net profit margin is 9.3%, while the average for the S&P 500 is 8.5% and the average for all other U.S. industries is a mere 6.8%; and
Whereas, Also according to Hoover's, since 2002, Exxon Mobil's total net income (defined as income after all corporate actions have been accounted for) has risen from $11.2 billion to $40.6 billion (and increase of 362%), while BP's has risen from $6.9 billion to $21.6 billion (+ 313%), Royal Dutch Shell's have risen from $9.5 billion to $31.3 billion (+ 329%), Chevron's have risen from $1.1 billion to $18.6 billion (+1,690%), and Conoco Phillips' have risen from $762 million to $11.9 billion (+ 1,562%); and
Whereas, the total net income increase of just these five companies ...
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