Link to UK government news release as copied above
This story released dog day Friday at the end of term… is already widely picked up by the news print media.
Tim writes, I don’t get it, why manipulate instead of simply providing a straight honest regime over the years? If hard brass is there the herds will start work.
More likely there is a breach of trust of government and they know it, local, English, UK and EU (throw in the UN if you like). So here is reason for more distrust.
Post by Tim Channon
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
I heard about this on [BBC] Radio 4 at lunch time. They had some nut who used to be a director of BP Green Energy spouting off saying it was a disgrace that they where getting this subsidy. What subsidy? The amount being taken off them is reducing from about 60% down to 30%. How can paying 30% tax be a subsidy? Off shore wind power now well thats a different thing.
The only thing the natural gas industry needs is an even playing field.
The only thing that keeps wind mills alive is direct tax subsidy and imposed tariff arrangements.
“reduce the tax on a portion of the company’s production INCOME”
What? Are they saying that the marginal rate is going to go from 67% to 30%? And what is “income”?
In business, income is not revenue, it is revenue minus some stuff. It’s not even “cash flow”.
I’m not sure what “income” is, or what the reduction will be on, let alone what the reduction will be, big, small, portion of what would have been received, i.e. incremental change.
If the UK is modelling its taxes on the US and Canada – which they should, considering that all that drilling and developing money is looking for the best deal on a global level – then there will be substantial tax deductions (“breaks”) on earned money.
It sounds like a lot of words that disguise a situation that makes companies happy while giving taxpayers the feeling big taxes are still going to come to the economy/the Treasury when, in fact, they are not. You’ll somehow be subsidizing the exploration phase for shale gas – the obvious stuff, right, that is everywhere?
It’s watching the pea again.
I’m still looking for the test wells and data that Centrica and the UK government “have” that justifies large production levels from large areas of the Bowland Basin Shales. I haven’t found them yet. As far as I can see the shale gas revolution in Britain is still at the “grassroots” level, in which both molecules-in-the-ground, and extraction costs and efficiencies are completely unknown. The stuff of stock bubbles or Tulipmania, for the Dutch reading this.
Another image: if we keep watching the dancing bear, they’ll know we’ll never see the pickpocket working the crowd.
Doug,
>sigh< are the laws of physics different in the UK? Is the geology of the UK unique to planet earth?