“In Guyana, our government does the opposite: it takes the side of oil companies and ignores the plight of the consumers,” said Christopher Ram as he registered his disagreement with the government’s refusal to impose a windfall tax on oil companies operating in Guyana.
The Chartered Accountant registered his sentiments in his most recent column published in today’s Stabroek News.
Ram reasoned that Guyanese are experiencing financial hardship and the government, instead of trying to relieve that burden, through what he considers reasonable measures, have decided to turn a blind eye.
Ram noted that President of Russia Vladimir Putin’s “misguided” special military operation has dramatically and adversely affected the world economy and has impacted almost every household in the world including those in Guyana. “We now pay substantially more for cooking gas, petroleum and minibus fares, substantially because of the huge increase in the price of petroleum products.”
Ram noted that consequently, the oil companies are making unprecedented profits and are allowed to keep those profits all to themselves and their foreign shareholders.
Ram said, “One would expect a caring government to take the side of the population, sometimes from two sides- a cap on prices as well as a windfall tax.”
A windfall tax is a higher tax sometimes imposed on companies whenever a sector experiences sudden extreme financial gains. Recently, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres called on oil-producing nations to impose a windfall tax on oil companies. This is even after jurisdictions like the United Kingdom and Canada had already made the move. UK said that windfall proceeds will go towards helping households as cost-of-living increases.
However, Guyana has already made it clear that it will not be moving in that direction. Ram views this as the government taking the side of oil companies against its own people.
