In 1975, for instance, about 45 percent of what the Western European consumer paid for oil products went to his government, while about 35 percent was accounted for by the OPEC price. The other 20 percent went for shipping, refining, dealer’s margins, and so forth. The argument had less validity for the United States, where the tax component was only 18 percent, while the share going to the OPEC exporter was more on the order of 50 percent. In Japan, the government took 28 percent, with 45 percent going to OPEC.
