By: Ben Christopher | California Political Review
Today, four months after Gov. Gavin Newsom called upon the Legislature to tax the excess profits of oil producers in California, we may finally get some details about the proposal. Or we might not.
A Senate committee is slated to hold its first hearing on the “windfall profits penalty” proposed by the governor and introduced by Oakland Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner. The hearing is only meant to be “informational” — an opportunity for lawmakers to hear from experts about what drives the state’s gas prices and what the Legislature can do about it. But the back-and-forth could give us a hint about how much appetite there is for this still very hypothetical tax.
The bill was introduced in early December with vague placeholder language that refers to imposing a “penalty” on an unspecified “maximum gross gasoline refining” profit. Proceeds from the penalty would be refunded to Californians.
Read the full article here.
