That's a bit of an unfair comparison. Most of the "taxes" you have include to make it "the most friction applied of almost any commodity" to are royalities. T

That's a bit of an unfair comparison. Most of the "taxes" you have include to make it "the most friction applied of almost any commodity" to are royalities. The government for country X owns the land and leases it to E&P companies under an agreement that they will pay a Y% royalty in addition to taxes. In other words, I own this, but I'll let you produce it for me for a Y% cut. Royalties are taxes in a strict sense, but they would be paid if it were a private landowner as well (though the government usually has more leverage to negotiate a better deal than an individual landowner).