I'm not sure I'm on the same page with respect to subvention, and there is a difference between “incentive” and “subsidies” at the end of the day. And I'm not sure exactly just what you think the subsidies are to the oil industry, or to the mining industry in general, because I don't see them. The issue people like to talk about is the accelerated capital cost allowance. The accelerated capital cost allowance simply changes the timing at which tax is payable. It doesn't change the overall level of tax that's payable. So it's a timing issue.
Right now I can tell you that the mining industry--and I believe the oil and gas is in exactly the same boat with the removal of the resource allowance. The economy generally is at a 21% federal corporate tax rate. We're at 22%. We're actually paying more tax. We will be at 21% next year. We're part of a collective that says we should be at 19%. And you know that different people have different views on subsidies at the end of the day. But the reality is that what is going to slow down investment is the availability of machinery, equipment, people--the government's ability to support with social infrastructure the Fort McMurray region and invest in that human and social capital that is required.
I've gone through so many business cycles in the commodities business, both on the oil and gas, and I have more experience in minerals and metals. Although I'm an optimist and I believe in the longer-term cycle that we're presently facing because of Chinese growth, the reality is that for these commodities, they go up and they go down. We should not lose sight of the fact that although we may look at $70 oil now, we could be looking at $40 oil three months from now or two years from now. So industry has to take its investment decisions on the long-term basis, and probably quite a conservative estimate. One of the challenges we will indeed have is to address these issues of....as the government has put us on notice of intent to regulate. Clearly, we have had a long history of improving energy efficiencies. But we need to move to that next stage of capturing greenhouse gases, CO2. Sequestration issues are important.
Although Harvey says it's not an issue where he would like to see the government invest significant dollars, the reality is in some of these issues they are beyond the capacity of the individual company and it's not justified. It's basic research. No individual company can get sufficient return on its dollar of investment in R and D to justify the investment in the first place. So it needs the partner, which is why I emphasize public-private partnerships in research and development.