While the focus on energy centres has historically and periodically shifted, from the Middle East to China and East Asia, consumption and production habits have consistently dictated movement in almost every other market.
A downturn in Chinese construction activity can dampen resource-rich Australia's tax revenues, while geopolitical uncertainty on the Arabian Peninsula can do anything from breaking a European airline to pushing up the price of an American cheeseburger.
While external threats may move markets in the short-term, the global economy faces more seismic shifts in conscious consumption habits as conversations surrounding sustainability and finite resources become increasingly louder, particularly in the developed world where economies have hit an apex and become net-importers of resources, and as the developing world's development becomes increasingly dependent on the income generated through the export of such commodities.
The subsequent power imbalance created between the haves and have-nots of energy have created regional powers where there were none, while created development headaches for states traditionally dependent on the revenue generated by the resources trade.
For tax advisors, the challenges are no less complex, for the globalised nature of energy discovery, excavation, transportation and consumption creates a cat and mouse chase between multinationals and tax authorities each looking for their eureka moment.
Amid all this change, International Tax Review, in conjunction with Deloitte, is pleased to present the Transfer Pricing Energy and Resources (E&R) guide for 2019 to provide a compendium of all the regulatory tax issues afflicting budding global energy markets globally.
Dan Barabas
Commercial editor
International Tax Review
