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Originally Posted by cbrenthus
Well, that is true.
Still, I don't like seeing the government pointing fingers at oil companies when they colllect less than the taxes on the gas.
I also wouldn't be surprised if one of the reasons for record profit is the fact that gas refineries haven't been allowed to expand for so long. So there loans from building 40 years ago are paid off and there isn't anything to put money into. Whereas if they could build more refineries, than they would be putting some of the money back into producing gasoline. I don't know this for sure, just theory on my part.
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Again, something we need to keep in mind is that their profit margins haven’t increased. The company isn’t making any more money over any given period of time as a whole. They are making more profit, but have to put more money into their company to buy oil and the energy itself for refinery and trucking. The average profit margin is about 8% for oil companies, it hasn’t increased. Look at this chart as a quick reference.
Oil Profit Margins vs. Other Industries « The Everyday Economist