Economic approaches to nonrenewable resource taxation
The purpose of this Article is to provide the reader with a survey of the current status of natural resource economics insofar as it related to tax policy. The topic is limited to oil, gas and minerals. The Article begins with a review of the kinds of oil and gas exploitation contracts that arose in the U.S. in a free-wheeling industry, the primary feature of which is that private owners of the oil and gas interests are able to enforce the property interests created by those contracts. The subject is important because (1) those contracts spread into the mining (and to a lesser extent the timber) industry, and (2) the contracts are closely analogous to later tax systems in which the state owns the resources. There is a tendency among thinkers in the area to overlook these market-based arrangements and to imagine that they are logically separate from tax systems. They are not separate. Moreover, by understanding the private forms, one is well-armed to evaluate the taxation of natural resources and to detect the limits, especially the inflexibility, of government-designed systems. One can then ask questions about the wisdom of any particular country`s choices in the field of natural resource taxation. The Article then moves to the economist`s stand on the subject, as expressed in the prevailing literature. Finally, the Article closes with some policy considerations with respect to structuring tax systems in which the state is the proprietor of the resources.
- OSTI ID:
- 569765
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Natural Resources amp Environmental Law, Journal Name: Journal of Natural Resources amp Environmental Law Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 11; ISSN JNRLF9
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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