Such a step could be helpful to domestic oil producers.

Domestic oil producers have seized the moment to pursue their campaign for higher exploration and production incentives.

Domestic oil producers are finally turning a profit and will be unhappy as crude oil prices fall.

The government effectively annulled the oil export duty last month to help domestic oil producers.

Among other mistakes from that period, the government increased the taxes levied on domestic oil producers, as if that would somehow help.

Some have even made the argument that Keystone's southern leg won't help domestic oil producers much since most of the oil will be coming from Canada.

Russia is requiring domestic oil producers to sell, on average, 65 percent of their output at home, and at prices 70 percent less than the world price.

Domestic oil producers could not shift the tax forward as a higher oil selling price because the purchaser would merely substitute imported or tax-exempt crude.

Much of the extra $22 billion a year going to domestic oil producers would amount to a windfall on oil that would have been pumped at lower prices.

Attaining independence would inherently involve a higher overall price tag than doing nothing, with subsidies to other sources of energy or to domestic oil producers to provide economic incentives.

Domestic oil producers and their friends in Washington argue that continuously low oil prices sap the economies of oil-producing states and force increased U.S. imports.

Michael Stein, a lawyer representing a group of domestic oil producers that oppose the complaint, says the behavior of oil exporters hardly fits accusations of dumping.

TAPPING OIL Imposing a fee on imported oil is especially appealing to some people, notably domestic oil producers.

The debate follows this week's enforcement of a similar oil export duty of $109.91 per tonne for some domestic oil producers - a move that alarmed investors and potential newcomers to the energy sector.

As slight as New York's oil output may be, Mr. Plants says that a national issue is at stake: helping domestic oil producers maintain what is left of the nation's energy independence.

"But the bulk of price improvement already has been accomplished," he said Among the domestic oil producers, Mr. Baker rates ARCO and USX, formerly U.S. Steel, as "buys."

This time around, if oil prices defied the odds and stayed below $10 for an extended period, domestic oil producers could face collapse, said Michael F. O'Donnell, managing director of Arthur Andersen & Company's worldwide energy practice in Houston.

LEAD: Democratic budget negotiators today weighed the political risks of proposing new energy taxes to encourage conservation and thereby decrease America's dependence on foreign oil, while their Republican counterparts suggested that tax breaks for domestic oil producers might be a better course.

It is also very, very important for Congress now to act on my proposal to strengthen our long-term energy security, including new tax incentives and investments to support domestic oil producers and to promote the development and use of alternative fuels and more efficient energy technologies.

ROLLING BACK BREAKS - House Democrats passed legislation to rescind $14 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for domestic oil producers and use the money for alternative energy and conservation technologies.

And even if domestic oil producers reverse course and seek out new sources aggressively, it would not have much of an effect on world supply and demand anytime soon: Total domestic oil production is about 6 million barrels a day, out of more than 70 million worldwide.

An agreement by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise crude oil production by 800,0000 barrels a day and efforts by other foreign and domestic oil producers to increase output would have limited effect or come too late to lower retail prices soon, experts have said.

The idea of an oil import tax is also supported by Mr. Simon and Mr. Hart but is opposed by most other Democrats and has been rejected by Congress on the ground that most of the money raised from higher oil prices would enrich domestic oil producers.

The Oil-Import Fee Both a carbon tax and a B.T.U. tax would dampen demand for oil, but neither would do anything for domestic oil producers, which have lost nearly half a million jobs in 10 years and are now producing less oil than at any time since the early 1960's.