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IMF To Host Conference On Taxing Natural Resources

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

12 August 2008

The Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has this week announced it will, on 25th-26th September, be holding a conference on the design of tax instruments pertaining to natural resources.

According to the IMF, soaring prices for oil, gas and mineral resources have heightened interest in the design of tax instruments - and similar measures, such as production-sharing agreements - that provide a reasonable allocation of risk and return between governments and investors, and which ensure efficient resource use and discovery.

The conference is intended mainly for government officials active in the area, and will have a technical focus. Among the topics to be covered are:

  • What are the main strengths and weaknesses of the core instruments - royalties, rent taxes, PSAs, and so on - that are available? Can windfall taxes play a useful role?
  • What are the main trends and current issues in the taxation of oil, gas, and minerals?
  • What methodologies are available to assess the economic impact of alternative tax arrangements on particular projects?
  • What particular challenges do tax administrations face in relation to natural resources, and how can these be overcome?
  • What are the key international tax issues in this area?
  • Should fiscal stability clauses be provided, and if so in what form?
  • What are (and should be) the fiscal implications of state participation?

The Managing-Director of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is expected to open the conference. Keynote speakers on the two full days will be Paul Collier (Oxford) and Michael Ross (UCLA).

Session speakers will include Robin Boadway (Queens University), Petter Osmundsen (University of Stavanger), Lindsay Hogan (Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics), Jack Calder (formerly UK Oil Taxation Office), together with other independent experts, and staff from the IMF and World Bank. Papers presented will subsequently be published as a Handbook of Resource Taxation.

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