Governments are proposing windfall taxes on energy firms
The taxes are tempting on paper, but tricky in practice
ON MARCH 8th, the day the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil spiked above $127, the European Commission unveiled its grand plan to fight stratospheric living costs. Claiming that the “crisis situation” warranted exceptional measures, it recommended that member states levy a one-off tax on electricity-generating firms. The revenues raised could then be used to keep households’ bills down. The next day Elizabeth Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, tweeted that she and other legislators were working on a tax on the “war-fuelled profits” accruing to American oil majors. The proposal is now making its way through the House of Representatives.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Power grab”
Finance & economics March 19th 2022
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