Modernizing oil and gas royalties in British Columbia: a corporate taxation balancing act and its implications for income inequality

Grant Nülle and Graham A. Davis

Chapter 4 in Elgar Companion on Inequality and Natural Resources, 2026, pp 53-79 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter describes British Columbia's failed efforts to expeditiously reform its oil and gas royalty system. The reform had competing goals of obtaining a fair return to the Crown and First Nations, promoting development of oil and gas extraction in the relatively poor northeastern portion of the province, mitigating unequal environmental impacts of oil and gas extraction across British Columbia's populace, and improving relations with Indigenous groups, all amidst an energy transition and inter-jurisdictional oil and gas tax competition with neighboring Alberta. The explicit effect of the royalty on income inequality was neither a focus of the reform nor an afterthought. We suggest that to avoid the impasse that is the current state of affairs in British Columbia, energy resource royalty design should aim for simplicity and efficiency while not eschewing considerations of the impact of the royalty on inequality.

Keywords: British Columbia; Oil And Gas Royalty; Corporate Taxation; Market Income Inequality; Disposable Income Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035327362
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