Two days before the UK Budget on 16 March 2016, we’re releasing Oil Tax Facts.
The oil industry is lobbying hard for more tax breaks, on top of the £1.3 bn given in last year’s Budget. The lobbying has created a skewed public debate, overstating the industry’s financial woes, claiming that UK oil taxes are unduly high, and suggesting that more tax breaks would save jobs.
This factsheet – produced in collaboration with our friends at Platform – aims to dispel some of the myths about oil taxes. It shows that:
- Oil subsidies are internationally agreed to be a bad idea – even by David Cameron
- Government policy is doubly slowing the clean energy transition
- Oil tax breaks do not protect jobs
- Subsidy changes are destroying more jobs in solar than saving in oil
- The UK oil industry is highly profitable over time
- The UK oil industry pays less tax than in other countries