Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his administration may impose a 'tax on sudden gains' on foreign oil companies operating in the country, to capture the gains obtained from a rise in oil prices. 'I want to see the study on this. We don't charge this tax now. But if the price of oil continues to appreciate between $80 and $100 a barrel of crude, it might be convenient to adopt this tax,' Chavez said during his Sunday radio and television show. Chavez said he got the idea for the tax after talking with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Chavez explained the new tax would allow Venezuela to derive more revenue when oil prices increase for reasons unrelated to a rise in production costs.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Venezuela's President Chavez says his administration may impose a 'tax on sudden gains' on foreign oil companies
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his administration may impose a 'tax on sudden gains' on foreign oil companies operating in the country, to capture the gains obtained from a rise in oil prices. 'I want to see the study on this. We don't charge this tax now. But if the price of oil continues to appreciate between $80 and $100 a barrel of crude, it might be convenient to adopt this tax,' Chavez said during his Sunday radio and television show. Chavez said he got the idea for the tax after talking with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Chavez explained the new tax would allow Venezuela to derive more revenue when oil prices increase for reasons unrelated to a rise in production costs.
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The more that socialist Venezuela can develop oil and gas production using its own resources, the less it will feel compelled to play fool bourgeois taxation games -- because these imperialist corporations just won't be doing business in Venezuela, period.
ReplyDeleteWhich begs the question: why, then, is industrial growth in Venezuela stalling? I mean, even before the present recession (soon to be a depression)? Too much reliance on "private sector" development, perhaps?