Opinion ID: 619605
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Tax = 23% × P.

Text: No amount of emphasis on substance over form can take us from the first equation to the second. If profit is in essence the only variable in the tax base, we would first need to explain away the other two variables that the U.K. statute puts there. For the sake of argument, we do so as PPL suggests. First, we assume that the initial period for all companies is 1,461 days longin other words, that D equals 1,461. Twenty-nine of the 32 affected companies had initial periods of 1,461 daysfour years (4 x 365) plus one day for leap yearor just shy of it. Second, we assume that each company's flotation value (the variable FV ) is not relevant for the purpose of satisfying the regulation's three requirements. PPL contends that we should do so because the flotation value in the U.K. windfall tax merely gives that tax the form of historical excess profits taxes. [2] These two modifications would make the tax base appear to be quite different. Rather than the statutory formula, that is,