According to tax expert Brigitte Alepin of Agora Taxation, the state coffers are deprived of at least $ 1 billion a year because of the low tax rates applied to Canadian oil companies.
Although these businesses generated profits of almost $ 20 billion in 2005, their tax rate was 5% lower than the average for Canadian SMEs.
In the late 1980s, the government put in place a very generous tax benefit system to help the oil companies set up. However, even though the price of a barrel of crude oil has quadrupled since, the benefits granted to the oil companies have remained intact.
In 2005, the profit margin for Canadian oil companies was 14%, compared to 8% elsewhere in the world.
The turnover of the Canadian oil industry was $ 140 billion in 2005.
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