U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) slammed President Obama's proposed $10-a-barrel crude-oil tax on producers, to help pay for U.S. infrastructure upgrades, during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing late last week.
“This industry – American energy production – took us out of recession," Boustany said. "It was one of the major factors that took us out. It was American innovation that has restructured the entire energy market, now superimposed on slack demand because of low growth globally. We need the right approach to this, and putting this tax on oil is going to hit the producers, it’ll hit the refiners, it’ll make us less competitive, and the consumer in America will pay the price at the end of the day.”
Boustany was adamant that the new tax would hurt families, as he said oil companies surely would pass on the cost of the tax to consumers at the gas pump. As a former cardiovascular surgeon, Boustany spoke of the oil tax in medical terms.
“I think it’s the wrong diagnosis and the wrong prescription," Boustany said.
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