Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Column 129
Introduction
On 29th December 2023, in a letter to the press, I argued that the Natural Resource Fund was overstated by G$274 BN., the amount of the Corporation Taxes paid by the Government on behalf of the oil companies required under Article 15.4 of the 2016 Petroleum Agreement. Attorney General, Mr. Anil Nandlall, S.C., disputed my assertion in a direct, unnamed tirade against me.
Mr. Nandlall wrote that the supremacy provision (section 45) of the Natural Resource Fund Act overrode the provisions of the 2016 Petroleum Agreement, boldly asserting that the provisions in the Agreement on taxation have “obviously been overtaken by the Natural Resource Fund Act”. In the process he completely ignored the Stability Clause of the Agreement, which requires the Government to pay the taxes of the Oil Companies out of its share of oil revenues. What is indisputable is that despite the so-called supremacy clause, the Government continues to pay the taxes for the oil companies.