Calif. lawmakers OK petroleum profits tax - Yahoo! News: "SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California lawmakers gave their initial approval on Monday to a bill that would tax windfall profits of petroleum producers and refiners. "

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California lawmakers gave their initial approval on Monday to a bill that would tax windfall profits of petroleum producers and refiners.

The bill by Assemblyman Johan Klehs cleared the state Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee and will be heard next by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
The bill by Klehs, a Democrat, would impose a tax of 2.5 percent on profits of petroleum producers and refiners for the year beginning on January 1, 2005.
The bill, responding to gasoline prices topping $3.00 a gallon last year after Hurricane Katrina, aims to collect taxes on windfall profits if the annual profits of oil producers and refiners are above their average profit of the last five years, Klehs said.
The lawmaker said he would push to get his bill to Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Arnold Schwarzenegger. "We plan to put this on the governor's desk," Klehs told Reuters.
Klehs said he estimates his bill would raise $140 million in taxes in California's fiscal year 2006-2007, followed by $70 million in 2007-2008 and $90 million in 2008-2009.