Senate Votes End to Tax on Oil’s Windfall Profits

The Senate, led by oil-state senators, voted to repeal the windfall profits tax on domestic oil Wednesday and agreed to complete action on far-reaching trade legislation early next week.

Working into the night, the Senate approved an amendment to the trade bill that would repeal the windfall profits tax after a threatened filibuster collapsed.

The tax, approved in 1979, was part of a package that decontrolled the price of domestic oil. The tax raised $72 billion in 1980-85 but has not produced revenues since oil prices began skidding in 1986.

The vote on the oil tax was part of an agreement worked out during the day and evening by Senate leaders which also stipulated a final vote on the trade bill by Tuesday. As many as 70 amendments could still be considered.

The trade bill, parts of it opposed by the Administration, is designed to help the U.S. position in international trade through the opening of markets and a lowering of overseas barriers to American products.

In earlier action Wednesday, the Senate, still irate over the sale of highly sophisticated U.S. submarine technology to the Soviet Union by Japanese and Norwegian firms, voted to guard against future shipments to the Soviet bloc. The amendment, adopted by voice vote, would direct the Commerce Department to impose re-export licenses on countries which fail to protect against their nations’ firms selling sophisticated equipment to the Soviet bloc.

The Senate also voted 53 to 44 not to back off a decision to suspend for six months Romania’s most favored nation trade status, permitting lower tariffs and easier access to U.S. markets.