OIL TAX FACTS: Dispelling North Sea Oil Myths

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

You can read the factsheet here.