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This articles discusses the developments of the Oil and Gas Energy Tax Act of 1974 in the U.S. The bill which alters the tax treatment of domestic and foreign oil and gas production was ordered out of committee on May 4, 1974. The tax act, HR 14462 contains two special rules dealing with the interaction of the windfall profits tax and the federal income tax. The bill provides that the president may not impose any quota, duty, tax or free on the importation of petroleum unless the imported price is at or below the domestic price and the goal of promoting national self-sufficiency would be adversely affected if such charge were not imposed.

The article reports on the potential legal battle that may arise from the attempt of the state government of Illinois to collect sales tax, which is revised as retailers' occupational tax, from utilities companies in accordance with the ruling of the State Department of Finance that private or municipal utilities providing electricity, water and gas are subject to tax.

The article reports on the tax imposed on customers of privately owned-electric power companies in the U.S. This tax is said to be discriminatory because customers supplied by public companies do not have to pay the tax. This exemption was included in the original 1933 law and has been defended on the ground that no tax could legally be imposed by the government on the distribution of electricity by a state or any of its subdivisions. However, the U.S. House of Ways and Means Committee have acted to end the discrimination by extinguishing the tax.