David Cay presents us with a complex plot

Let's analyze the thing. This is about a comlpex tax collection scheme that involves wealthy people, public utilities, federal regulators. consumers and the state of Oregon. Lets start with Daves post:

Americans pay billions of dollars each year to cover the corporate income taxes of legal monopolies -- electric, gas, water, cable, and other utilities. The taxes are built into the regulated prices that utilities charge, prices set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for interstate operations like pipelines and by state agencies like the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) for intrastate utilities.

Now our first reaction is what kind of lunatic in the FERC would accept the delusion that households should maintain the corportate tax account of large corportations? Just being the FERC charirman under this idiocy would cause me quit the job on day one.

If the Feds want to collect an interstate transmission tax, then charge the tax on unit basis and collect it, directly, at the source. Getting the consumer at the final delivery involved in a variable rate tax collection scheme is lunacy, I don't care whether you are a scheming Gov Walker or a delusional president, this should be recognized as lunacy.

Then we have this:

Diverting taxes for private gain was a story that hit Oregon with a wallop nine years ago when I revealed that Enron, which owned the state's biggest electric utility, Portland General Electric (PGE), did not pay income taxes for years. Close to $1 billion of federal and state taxes built into PGE rates never got to government.

This is some political nut in Oregon attempting to collect a local corporate tax, via the FERC, via the final consumer in Oregon. Lunacy squared.

What is going on here? Politicians are trying to create a variable rate energy tax based upon the wealth of the corporation involved, and secretely involving the consumer. Why? If Oregon wants a variable rate corporate tax, then do it directly, leave the energy consumer out of the loop. If Oregon politicians want to collect a consumption tax on energy, then do it directly, leave the corporation out of the loop.

Why do we have these scams, from Gov Walker to Pete Wilson to Gray Davis? Generally these scams are methods to indirectly bilk some group, in secret, for some special interest program. Usually there is a dishonest politician and a secret interest group behind the plot.

Finally, from the experience in California we know these schemes eventually blow up and the taxpayer is stuck with this massive bill he never expected.

The solution? Collect taxes directly at the source where you think they should be applied, and if you lose an election because of it, well at least you were honest. Does a politician want to be exposed as a schemer, like Gov Walker, or a straight shooter, like our old, bald Gov Brown