Who needs taxes?
That's the big headline in Norway today. In the quarterly report they provide for the oil industry, Norwegian economic analysis company Econ asks 'what if the oil price stays as high as today'? They find that, given a $70 scenario, as much as 86,4 per cent of the state's expenses will be covered by the turnover from the oil fund in 2030, which by then will have reached a staggering 10,311 billion NOK (roughly £90 million). The political debate in Norway frequently centres on whether or not the Government should spend more of the oil money, and Norwegian Nobel price winner Finn Kydland has previously stated he thinks the Norwegian people would be better stewards of this wealth than the politicians.
