Thursday, August 11, 2022
Government's upside down approach to oil companies
While many of is are calling for a windfall tax on the excessive profits of the oil companies to fund targeted assistance with energy bills for struggling familes, the UK government appears to be taking the opposite approach.
The Independent reports that energy giant, Shell received more than £100m from the UK taxpayer in 2021.
They say that the payment was revealed in a Shell report, which showed that the company had paid out a total of £17bn in taxes and royalties to governments around the world last year. State subsidies outweighed charges in only a handful of countries, and the UK was by far the biggest payer, followed by India at £15m and Germany at £3m.
Apparently, poorly designed tax breaks have resulted in Shell and BP receiving £700m between them in government subsidies for oil and gas production since 2016.
Time for the government to get its priorities right.
The Independent reports that energy giant, Shell received more than £100m from the UK taxpayer in 2021.
They say that the payment was revealed in a Shell report, which showed that the company had paid out a total of £17bn in taxes and royalties to governments around the world last year. State subsidies outweighed charges in only a handful of countries, and the UK was by far the biggest payer, followed by India at £15m and Germany at £3m.
Apparently, poorly designed tax breaks have resulted in Shell and BP receiving £700m between them in government subsidies for oil and gas production since 2016.
Time for the government to get its priorities right.
