These are the Corporation Tax Revenues since the start of
the century –
1999/2000 £1.148
billion 2007/2008 £5.728 billion
2000/2001 £2.329
billion 2008/2009 £9.826 billion
2001/2002 £3.515
billion 2009/2010 £4.998 billion
2002/2003 £3.662
billion 2010/2011 £6.863 billion
2003/2004 £3.057
billion 2011/2012 £8.840 billion
2004/2005 £3.831
billion 2012/2013 £4.393 billion
2005/2006 £7.307
billion 2013/2014 £3.556 billion
2006/2007 £6.709
billion
What strikes me as obvious, is that the tax breaks given to
the industry by the Treasury for them to make major new investments during
2013/14 (the highest for 30 years) was timed deliberately so as to reduce
revenues for the year of the vote for Scottish Independence.
Even so, as can be seen, the figure of
£3.556 billion is still higher than that for 1999/2000, as well as 2000/01,
2001/02, and 2003/04, which exposes the oft repeated lie of falling revenues in
recent years, with the highest revenues being in 2008/09 and 2011/12.
I have received information from a reliable source that
"those in the know" in the oil industry have been told to keep their
mouths firmly shut about the extent of oil discoveries west of Shetland until
after the Referendum.
See also: More blogs by John Jappy
See also: More blogs by John Jappy