Takings legislation scheduled for Senate floor action in May would likely cost federal taxpayers more than $100 billion in the next seven years, according to a new report released May 1 by Taxpayers for Common $ense. The bill, S. 605, could result in more claims like Exxon’s newly-filed $125 million “takings” lawsuit seeking damages for the Exxon Valdez.

“The Senate takings bill would start a $100 billion gold rush for lawyers who chase the Exxon Valdez,” said Ralph De Gennaro, Executive Director of Taxpayers for Common $ense and author of the new report. “The takings bill would force hardworking taxpayers to write checks to the Exxon Corporation which makes $5 billion a year in profit.”

Using existing takings law, the Exxon Valdez claim was filed March 1, 1996 and focuses on a 1990 federal law that banned the ship from Alaskan waters, thus reducing its profits. The lawsuit seeks compensation for the “taking” of the $125 million ship, plus lost profits and interest. “Taxpayers might have expected Exxon to be more grateful for the sweet deal they already had,” said De Gennaro. In 1991, a court imposed but waived an additional criminal fine of $125 million — the same amount that Exxon now claims was “tak.png” from it.

Entitled Blank Check: The Cost to U.S. Taxpayers of Creating a New Takings Entitlement, the report is the first time that a national taxpayer organization has examined the cost of takings proposals. The report is an independent analysis of the federal compensation costs of S. 605, based on estimates by the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office.

Quote of the week: Charles Krauthammer on the proposed repeal of the 4.3 cent gas tax

“A nation stuffs itself with chocolate, then wakes up in the morning whining that it has a tummy ache. Bob Dole immediately calls for repeal of the chocolate tax. President Clinton, ever feeling our pain, orders a criminal investigation of the candy man and opens the strategic chocolate reserve. Pandering? Hardly. In a nation of crybabies, this is leadership.” (“A Nation of Crybabies,” Wash. Post, 5/3/96)