Yesterday, the Prime Minister unveiled his government’s windfall tax. Basically it calls for a 50 - 50 split on any oil sold above the price of $90 a barrel. Well today the Opposition blasted that proposal first for delaying its implementation, and second, for the entire way it’s structured.
As we told you, it will be passed into law in September, but according to the PUP, with world oil prices at $130 a barrel, delaying its implementation by a month will cost the government between $4 and $5 million lost in revenue in august alone. And as to how the tax is structure, the PUP release says the government has it all wrong. Rather than the price of a barrel of oil, the PUP’s position is that the tax should be triggered when the oil companies achieve a set rate of return on their investment.
The release closes with the PUP demanding that government make available all the relevant information on the petroleum industry and the windfall tax.
