Saturday, January 20, 2007

Windfall Tax for Citrus!

Where are all those people clamoring that the oil industry be saddled with a "Windfall Profits" tax?

Despite the utter absurdity of such a thing in a capitalistic economy, where's the equal treatment here?

Oil prices surged last year and the industry reaped large amounts of revenue because the paying public needed the oil products and didn't change their driving habits.

Now, the Calif citris industry is being squeezed with the recent freeze. This means that Florida growers (and elsewhere) will likely make *nice* money from the same acreage of farmland that they had last year. Their product is in high demand and prices are expected to *double* as a result of the bad spate of weather.

Shouldn't the citrus industry be 'punished' for their obscene good luck? Those farmers that have been wise or fortunate with their crop choice and location have always benefited from the curveballs mother nature sends our way. Doesn't it make good sense to take money from those that will be rewarded and give it to the government? They need that money to buy more votes.

After all, we do the same for home improvement centers and the like in the path of hurricanes and what not?