If they weren’t being so damn serious about it, I’d be mighty amused by all the talk of windfall taxes on oil/gas companies daring to make money.
I would be mighty amused, because of the sheer stupidity being shown. But then people go and mean it.
Why is it stupid to talk about stealing windfall-taxing these profits? Well, because the reasons being given by the taxers for the profits are nothing to do with the actual profits.
Examples:
- Unite fuckwit in chief says: “Tax the fuel companies now so that those who helped to create these mega-profits get their rightful share of them.” Which people are those? The shareholders who put up the capital that was then used to make the profits? The workers for the oil companies who receive a wage in return for their efforts? The forecourt owners who are making so much money that they’re shutting down? No, I think that said fuckwit-in-chief means the motorists, who pay more in tax than they do for the actual product and are accountable for something under 1% of those profits. Hence, stupid. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for lower petrol prices, but let’s hit the real thief here: G Brown, Esq.
- Centrica is being hit for raising prices by 35% while ‘only’ reporting a 20% drop in profits. Which would make sense, if Centrica’s whole business was the delivery of gas to houses. But since it’s a big company, its somewhat spread about; the actual delivery of gas to houses is apparently run at a loss already and is in effect being cross-subsidised by other areas of the business.
- Companies are legally obliged to do the best they can for their shareholders. Not their customers and not the Exchequer, for their shareholders. And these shareholders aren’t Mr Moneybags; they’re pension funds and the like. And quite a few of them are people who got shares when the companies were privatised. So this windfall tax isn’t the acceptable face of taxation robbery: it’s not the super rich who would be stolen from: it’s everyone.
So, I think that all the talk is plenty stupid. But I’m not laughing, I’m actually a little scared…
I’m in agreement. I know it’s painful that we’re all paying a bit more for the necessities of life but that’s the way it goes. I get annoyed when I hear people talking as if it’s their God-given right to have cheap food, clothes, oil, holidays etc.
I’ve seen this ‘recession’ stuff before. It passes. Life goes on.
One of the mistakes these windbags make is to look at the absolute size of the profit, and don’t consider the profit as a return on capital, or as a percentage of revenue. When looked at like that, most energy industries aren’t doing that well.
But hey, why let that get in the way of some good drum bashing?