I want to start a business. What do I need first? My new business will thrive if I provide something everyone wants and needs. This product should be a renewable. The public should have a need to replenish their supply on a regular basis as with soap or paper towels. If I can also provide a service to the community but not limit my business to a ‘service only’ company, then I will really have “it”. Next I can add nation wide, no, world wide distribution and my company is on its way.

Now my new company is open and everyone loves my product. I am opening new outlets monthly. I have covered cost and am making about 10% profit on an ongoing basis. I am able to hire more and more people and even put some of the money into research and development to refine my product and stay ahead of the competition.

I am very well established now and I decide to go public. A few years later and I am even paying dividends to my shareholders. The stock keeps on going up.

It seems like the perfect business plan, but I discover the one flaw of my plan. I don’t control the wholesale side and although the price I pay for my product is relatively steady I am noticing that the price is going down. My product is easy to get. Everyone is selling it and the public doesn't seem to need it as much right now. In order to stay competitive I can’t raise my profit margin above 10% to offset the lull, so I’m not making as much money overall. This year the dividends to the stockholders disappeared altogether and the stock price has hit an all time low. Without as much operating capitol I had to lay off some really good people, especially in the R&D department. I felt it was more important to keep the day to day operation going and not have to go to the bank or the government for a bail out.

Its years later and things have turned around. Between the average rate of inflation and the wholesale price creeping back up I’m doing well again. The general public is beginning to use my product more and more. There is healthy business in complementary products that enhance my sales. I still sell my product at a 10% profit, but with the wholesale price higher and simply selling more I now have more money. The shareholders are happy, the R&D department is buzzing again. I was able to hire more employees and even give out some raises.

Because I have had a couple of record years, Congress has decided to investigate my business practices. I am supposedly making too much money. What is too much money? Congress wants to increase the tax I already pay. Where’s the incentive to do well if you get punished when you do. They’re changing the rules after the game has started. In what other industry does this ever happen?

In case you haven’t figured it out, it’s an oil company. Re-read the piece as if it’s a sandwich shop, a cleaners, or even Wal-Mart and then reassess your opinion of a Windfall Profit Tax.