New Tax On Oil Companies
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Wednesday August 01, 2007 11:04
by Greenie
The government has announced a new tax for oil and gas finds
The new tax wont apply to the Corrib find, but will apply from today on any new licences granted to oil and gas companies.
You can hear minister Ryan speak on morning Ireland here............ http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0801/environment_av.html?22...l,209
Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3The people of Ireland still won't own any of our natural resources, and the economic model proposed effectively means that licence holders (Shell and the rest) will own our oil and gas, and if they sell it at a profit, they might have to give us some money if they can't figure out a tax dodge.
They already have lots of licences that they got under the old terms, and the likely scenario is that some of the energy companies will now take licences at the new terms and then next year hand them back saying they can't make any profit on them. Setting themselves up nicely for an even bigger bite of our resources.
If Ryan meant business he could have made the terms retro-active beyond Jan 2007, or even better, set up a state company which automatically becomes a partner in any oil and gas exploration of what are, after all, the state's own resources. But he didn't.
Now he has a PR fig leaf to hide behind, and Shell can muddy the waters about the environmental impact of the disasterous precedent they are setting down in Bellanaboy.
25% of nothing is nothing.
40% of nothing is still nothing.
Why no royalties?
Micheál Ó Seighin of the Rossport Five on the new measures announced by Minister Ryan yesterday:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/377494.html
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