A Word On Taxes

The next time you read or hear that Big Oil makes too much money and should pay more taxes, consider this.

The average effective tax rate for oil and gas companies is 41.1% for 2010. By the same measure, other manufacturers on the S&P Industrial index pay an effective rate of 26.5%.

For comparison, nuclear power comes in at minus-99.5%, wind at minus-163.8% and solar thermal at minus-244.7%—and that's before the 2009 Obama-Pelosi stimulus. In other words, the taxpayer loses more the more each of these power sources produces.