Is It Right To Go After The Oil Companies?
As the likes of BP and Shell continue to announce record profits of billions of pounds there has been a resurgence in calls for windfall taxes for the oil companies. But is it right to hit a sector which is doing well at the moment, but has not always delivered to shareholders, or is it just masking problems with the tax regime in the UK?
It is easy to hit the oil companies when they are making big money seemingly at the expense of everyday workers in the UK, but is this really the full story? Let us not forget that the oil companies are already paying massive taxes on their oil income streams and North Sea operations, not to mention the excessive tax which is being charged on petrol and other energy sources. The real winner of the recent oil price rise is the government with petrol and diesel taxes higher than they ever have been, a reason why the authorities so generously decided to postpone the 2p tax rise in the cost of petrol.
Why do we always like to hit companies hard in the good times, but offer little help in the bad times - does anyone remember the price of oil when it was under $10 a barrel and the oil companies were suffering?
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