There is one thing that we do know now. This is that the exceptional profits that oil companies made in 2022 will recur. I sincerely hope that somebody has a plan to increase the tax rate on them to deal with this. The case for a windfall tax is going to be overwhelming. We need such a tax, and we need it now. There can be no justification for private sector gain at this moment at cost to the people of the world from enormous economic disruption.
If the price goes up then we’d like people to invest in going and making some more. Taxing away the profits of the price going up reduces that incentive to produce more and so lower the price.
Sigh.
Well I think even more that the drive to Net Zero needs to be halted immediately and actually the various levies on the North Sea and other oil related imposts need to be rescinded, precisely for the reason that Tim outlines.
Could be a good idea for an environmentalist tax on Prominent Greens and associated charities along the lines of a Socialist tax – after all its for the good of the planet and they won’t mind helping out?
“We need such a tax, and we need it now.”
Somewhere in the world, there is money going into hands that are not mine. Unfair! I need to control it all!
Oil companies are keeping him alive. Damn them!
About five years ago, Mr Worstall, while not giving financial advice, happened to mention that Shell shares were paying a pretty good dividend, this being a time of low interest rates. I bought some at ten quid. They are about thirty-two today, and they’ve paid 4% all that time. T|hanks, Tim.
Time I put some more in the tip jar.
But, Tim, the man in the pub probably agrees with him – or would if the man in the pub still existed. Certainly there are plenty of people in the comments threads in the Times who will agree with him. Stupidity will always be with us (as Jesus probably said).
The newspaper of the British elite seems to have many halfwits amongst its readers.
IMO, it’s worse than the Telegraph – with even more of women’s magazine content.
Harbour Energy, based in Aberdeen, reported an effective tax rate of 106% on its North Sea operations for 2025,
They’ll still claim that fossil fuels are subsidised somehow
I suppose the profit he made from his event is a different kind of profit.
Lest we be in any doubt he is now a victim, this can disabuse us:
‘Why do I do this? I have only recently come to understand the process, and that has required me to accept that I am both autistic and have ADHD, which is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, although I greatly resent the suggestion that it is a disorder, or that there is any deficit involved.’
I’d be amazed if you ADHD – this pathetic attempt to explain your behavious can be seen by those who have confronted your evil for decades as an attempt to court sympathy despite your support for murderous anti-semitism and state terror.
The autistic characteristic explains my dedication to writing an average of more than three posts a day on this blog for more than 20 years.
You’ll forgive my scepticism….
The ADHD aspect explains my continual enthusiasm for looking at issues from new angles to create what I hope might be new insights into them. The combination has ensured the longevity of this blog.
But you haven’t looked at anything from a new angle, at least as far as I can see. Much of your ideological outlook was old in the 2000s and it hasn’t improved with age.
I did a little research on that longevity using a couple of AI search engines this weekend and discovered that this is a decidedly unusual achievement. Most blogs last only a few months. Daily blogs have an even lower life expectancy. The number that have been sustained over the period I have maintained this one, for with multiple postings per day, is tiny. I am, perhaps, amongst a few dozen people in the world who have ever done such a thing. At the same time, over the last two years, I have also been publishing a daily video, sometimes more than one a day. I am told that this is an exceptional level of output
Even on the links from Tim, Julia or Mark (to name three) here you have dozens of blogs and that’s just in the political sphere. If you add in fields like travel, finance and so on you are talking tens of thousands in English language alone. Just as I apologized to the late Saddam Hussein for the comparison with Murphy, I’ll apologize to the US President but this sounds Trumpian in it’s self-regard. ‘I am told’- by whom? Your coven of sycophants?
‘To me, it seems normal. It is what I do. It is the way in which I understand the world around me. My ideas are formed at my fingertips. This, by and large, is also true of my YouTube videos, for which outline scripts are prepared in advance of filming. So not writing creates a sense of frustration that makes things more difficult than if I do write.
The actual cause of my stress and fatigue is that very often I am not able to achieve as much as I want, not that I have done too much.’
Perhaps you could do something else other than the fomentation of evil without end?
He’ll be a victim when he tries to sell his model trains. No one (else) cares anymore.
I don’t think he’s got attention *deficit*, he’s got *obsession* somethingsomething.
“although I greatly resent”
Naturally; resenting is what Irishmen are good at.
Can’t help thinking that narcissism seems more likely.
Mind you, I looked up ADHD traits:
”Avoiding tasks requiring sustained mental effort”
yup, none of his output suggests any mental effort
“Difficulty sustaining focus during conversations”
well, he seems to find it difficult to focus on anyone other than himself
“Constant tapping”
ah, so Murphy tapping away at his keyboard is just the Ely version of the infinite monkeys that you hope will type Shakespeare, with about as much chance of making sense
”Feeling unable to sit still in meetings or interrupting others”
well, we know he’s incapable of working with other people.
It’s looking possible. I’m still going with narcissism though.
Donations to the Virtuous.
Windfall taxes could be very bad for wind power producers if Reform when.
Shirely he can’t be that thick that he doesn’t realise that the EXISTING tax regime means that if they make more profits they pay more tax.
In Spudworld it is literally impossible for any organisation or individual to pay sufficient tax.
… except himself and the Guardian, whose untaxed wealth he approves.
Shirley he should mention that the existing tax regime will ensure the government will get a ‘windfall’ from all the extra VAT they will be stealing from the average Joe in the street.
I’d go further and say it’s not just incentive – if you tax away the profits then there is nothing to invest.
You’re reminding me of the horrid habit of the Queensland coal miners in investing elsewhere than in Queensland.
The present government promised not to reduce the colossal tax the Labor government had put on them. So the industry here is declining.
Why is Pfizer never mentioned for windpfall taxation?
Are big Pfarma more proficient at pfunding politicians and their scientific advisors?