Let's agree one thing, companies do not pay tax, they collect it. They charge their customers extra to cover the tax that they will have to pay and, ultimately, it is you and me, the public, who have to pay. I cannot emphasise this statement enough, it is always the public who end up paying for a tax whatever it is called.
So when I heard that the Chancellor had announced a £2 billion-a-year windfall levy on North Sea oil to fund an immediate cut in fuel duty of 1p per litre, I laughed. Did he really think that we would be taken in by this prestidigitation? Now, I am sure that if you go out to a petrol station today then the price of the petrol they are selling will be less than the price were selling it for yesterday but it won't stay that way. I assure you that the increased cost of extraction due to this windfall levy will work its way through the system and we will end up paying for it in the end.
I don't know whether to admire the man for his chutzpah or to bemoan the fact that politicians apparently think we are collectively so stupid that they can get away with tricks like this.
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