It’s a funny thing.

The oil industry is one of the few industries that doesn’t have its hand out in Washington, looking for a big bailout.

What do we get in return for our good business management? A huge tax increase under the new regime in Washington.

Here is what Washington is planning to do:

• In the latest proposal from the White House, the new federal budget would repeal several oil industry tax incentives while imposing new taxes on domestic producers to close "loopholes" that have allowed companies to avoid royalty payments.

• Specifically, the new budget would add $31.5 billion in "oil and gas company preferences" over a decade, according to a statement from the White House.

• The new federal budget also includes a "new excise tax on offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico to close loopholes that have given oil companies excessive royalty relief”, the White House proposal says. The new tax would begin in 2011, which the statement says is "after the economy has had time to recover”.

I adamantly oppose a tax on oil – it will damage exploration and put a damper on innovation. With less money in the till, it’s harder to drill for more oil and more difficult to fund new, creative ways to find new oil.

It’s not good for consumers, either. If President Obama and Congress raise taxes on oil, the price of oil, like any highly taxed product, will inevitably rise.

There’s a third reason. If Washington places an onerous tax on domestic oil – which is the plan right now – then oil companies are going to drill elsewhere, thus increasing our reliance on foreign energy markets at time when that’s the last thing we want to do.

Lastly, higher taxes will also mean fewer jobs here in the U.S. With jobs so valuable right now, is this the message we want to send to the American worker?

At least the U.S. oil industry isn’t taking the new tax proposals lying down.

"New taxes could mean fewer American jobs and less revenue at a time when we desperately need both," American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said in a statement. "More taxes also could reduce our nation's energy security by discouraging new investment in domestic oil and natural gas production and refining capacity and pushing those investments -- and American jobs -- abroad."

It’s pretty obvious, to me at least, what Washington is doing here – they’re looking at the oil industry as its own personal piggy bank. It’s a bank they’ll use to pay for pet “porkulus” projects that have nothing to do with economic recovery and everything to do with buying vote and moving power away from Main Street to both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Of course, it’s not just the oil industry. The tax-and-spend crowd is in power, and the numbers coming out of Congress aren’t encouraging. Overall, Congress and the White House are banding together in proposing $1 trillion in new taxes beginning in 2011. Here’s a list of new taxes, compiled by ABC News

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Total amount of taxes proposed starting in 2011

Amount         Explanation

1. Personal Income

$338 billion - Bush tax cuts expire
$179 billion - eliminate itemized deduction
$118 billion - capital gains tax hike

Total: $636 billion/10 years

2) Businesses:

$17 billion - Reinstate Superfund taxes
$24 billion - tax carried-interest as income
$5 billion - codify “economic substance doctrine”
$61 billion - repeal LIFO
$210 billion - international enforcement, reform deferral, other tax reform
$4 billion - information reporting for rental payments
$5.3 billion - excise tax on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
$3.4 billion - repeal expensing of tangible drilling costs
$62 million - repeal deduction for tertiary injectants
$49 million - repeal passive loss exception for working interests in oil and natural gas properties
$13 billion - repeal manufacturing tax deduction for oil and natural gas companies
$1 billion - increase to 7 years geological and geophysical amortization period for independent producers
$882 million - eliminate advanced earned income tax credit

Total: $353 billion/10 years

Total Amount of New Taxes = $989 billion

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Raising taxes on the oil industry, and on individuals in business in general, is the wrong direction for Washington to take. It will discourage investment, force businesses to layoff employees, and keep the axis of power in the oil world in the Middle East.

The good news is that the taxes haven’t become law yet. We need to contact our elected representatives in Washington and make our voices heard. The fight is just beginning. Let’s get involved and kick these news taxes all the way back to Washington, where they belong.