Before-tax corporate profits of nonfinancial corporations surged to 7.8 percent of net national product in the second quarter of 2006, having risen steadily from a post-war low of 3.6 percent, in the fourth quarter of 2001, after a stock market plunge. We find that the income of corporate capital owners of nonfinancial corporations, net corporate tax, has remained much steadier than corporate profits.

Energy policy is an important subject these days, as Americans become increasingly aware of the costs of what President Bush has called “our addiction to oil” and the environmental costs of growing world consumption of fossil fuels. Although some foreign oil comes from friendly and politically stable countries, the world price of oil depends heavily on output in potentially hostile, war-torn, and politically unstable regions. Policy changes can help us adjust over time to an economy that uses less oil and generates less greenhouse gas emissions. This article discusses some tax policies, including energy taxes and energy tax incentives, that can be crucial components of an energy policy that addresses global warming and energy security concerns.

Tax expenditures are provisions in the U.S. federal tax code that provide special tax benefits for selected economic activities or taxpayers. A number of tax expenditures add to greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging production and consumption of fossil fuels. This policy brief examines four tax expenditures that increase consumption of fossil fuels. Eliminating or scaling back these and other tax expenditures that promote production and consumption of fossil fuels would reduce the budget deficit, promote economic efficiency, and be a first step toward making the tax law more environmentally friendly. However, the effects of the proposed tax reforms on greenhouse gas emissions would be smallso addressing tax expenditures can be only one part of a broader strategy to reduce climate change.