The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[OakesCS]

Other than being in closer proximity to the controlling socialists, not more so than you. Most Canadians seem to be of the 'I'm happy to have big government take care of me' ilk and oil is the means by which that is possible. There is also the supplemental subset of 'aboriginals' who 'deserve' a share. I'd also say that a majority of the population will happily support a 'carbon tax' of some sort. So it's quite possible that oil companies in Canada could be treated like Petrobras with the important difference that they are not partially owned by the govt and they don't have a finite lifespan on existence. The one saving grace is that Canada has been thru a few boom and bust cycles for oil and taxation and there are more Canadians that can properly connect the dots and they don't tend to be as spoiled as the avg Californian.

these may be helpful

http://www.pwc.com/en_CA/ca/energy-utilities/publications/pwc-oil-gas-taxation-2012-10-en.pdf

And From http://www.policyschool.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/research/mintztechtaxoilgas.pdf

"Non-conventional Oil (Oil Sands)

The non-conventional royalty tax is assessed on the cash flow earned by oil companies engaged in oil sand production. Cash flow is equal to the revenues net of both current and capital costs incurred in undertaking the project. Interest expense is not deductible (since it would give undue advantage to investments since capital costs are already expensed) and unused deductions are carried forward to be written off in later years, indexed at the equivalent of the government bond rate (the investment allowance).

Until 2009, a minimum royalty of 1 percent of sales is applied when capital costs are written off but for the analysis below we ignore this payment (where this will have a small impact in increasing the effective tax rate when royalties are treated like taxes). After 2009, the royalty on sales is 1 percent for oil prices below $55 (Canadian dollar price for West Texas Intermediate) but rising up to a maximum of 9 percent when oil prices peak above $120. For this case, the previous equations for conventional oil and gas are relevant in determining the effective tax rate on oil sand investments if the minimum royalty is paid.

Prior to 2009, the cash flow royalty rate on oil sands was 25 percent and is paid if the amount is more than the minimum royalty as discussed above. Post 2009, the rate varies according to the price of oil. For prices below $55, the royalty rate remains 25 percent. The rate rises by 0.23 percent for each dollar increase in oil prices up to a maximum of 40 percent when prices of oil are more than $120."