Trump’s tariffs: Robbed by the contract, robbed by the data, robbed by the tariff
The 38% tariff on Guyana’s exports to the United States is among the highest announced by President Donald Trump late last week. The number is half of the 76% that Trump’s economic advisers have calculated as the actual value of the tariff disparity between the USA and Guyana. However, what began as a comparison of…
Why Guyana’s crude oil exports must be excluded from US import tariff
The recent US reciprocal Tariff Schedule for Guyana, 76/38 % is not trade-weighted by the amount of Guyana’s exports versus its imports from the US. It appears that Guyana has used its 76% tariff charged to the US as a revenue measure, in a similar way that Trump is attempting to do. For example, fish exported…
OGGN urges VP to exercise his responsibility by ending practice of Gov’t paying taxes for ExxonMobil
Over the past six weeks, the Oil and Gas Governance Network Guy-ana (OGGN) has published several letters in the Sunday editions of Stabroek News informing the Guya-nese public about a questionable tax arrangement between the Govern-ment of Guyana and the Stabroek Block Contractor – ExxonMobil Guyana Ltd, along with its affiliates Hess Corporation and CNOOC….
NRF payments should be separate under a unique budgetary sub-heading
I agree with Christopher Ram, the teacher, in his article, SN-2025/03/28: ‘Are these payments reflected in the revenue of the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Consolidated Fund?’ Government accounting rules should be followed in a similar way that private accounting does, such as the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), as a key standard used in…
Civil Society: Access to Information Protest — Report # 1
On Friday, March 29, 2025, citizens, media workers, civil society actors, trade unionists, and Members of Parliament gathered outside the Office of the Commissioner of Information at 330 East Street, between Middle and Quamina Streets, Georgetown. The protest centered on the office’s non-functioning state, its failure to comply with the Access to Information Act (2011),…
The Tax Certificate mystery
Introduction The controversy over tax certificates issued to oil companies continues unabated. On March 17, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance responded to the Oil and Gas Governance Network’s information request by suggesting that tax details could be found in Commercial Registry filings – a claim I discredited in my March 21 column as…
Spell out a transparent oil Treaty for USA protection from Venezuela
Let’s face facts. Might is ultimately right in our world. Sure, we have progressed to behaving more civilly with each other when the stakes are relatively low. However, there are no holds barred when the stakes are high. The new administration in the USA seems to get to the greedy point with fewer…
Questions for AG on conflict between 2016 PSA and NRF Act (2021) on tax payments on behalf of oil companies
Since February 16, 2025, the Sunday Stabroek has published a series of weekly letters by the Oil and Gas Governance Network Guyana (OGGN) querying the questionable tax practices by oil companies and urging the Government of Guyana, its ministers, and public servants to answer questions regarding the flow of oil-related tax payments. Under the 2016…
