the president of USA, Joe Bidenadvanced this Monday the possibility that the oil companies have to pay a special tax on their windfall profits if they don’t increase domestic production so that they go down gasoline prices.
(Read here: More people accept the oil industry, but firms slow down)
“Since they don’t want to do it, they have the opportunity to do it, lower prices for consumers at the gas station, but if they don’t, they will have to pay a higher tax on their excess profits and face other restrictions.“, assured Biden in a speech from the White House.
(See here: Video: Joe Biden tried to jump off a platform and then run away?)
The president also said that he is already working with legislators on the Congress to assess these options.
Biden framed his proposal against a backdrop of record earnings from major
oil companies in the country as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukrainewhich has turned the international energy market upside down.
The president, who has already been highly critical of the decision of the main companies not to increase their oil refining capacity, defended that the profits of these companies are not due to any innovation, but to the tragic situation of the war.
“I am a capitalist, I have no problem with companies getting a fair return on their investment and innovation, but that is not even remotely what is happening,” he said.
Biden cited the profit figures of the 6 major US oil companies, which in the last 6 months have made a profit of 100,000 million dollars.
According to that source, the oil companies, instead of increasing their domestic production capacity to lower fuel prices at gas stations, are taking advantage of the profits to buy back shares and thus pay higher dividends to their shareholders.
Windfall taxes are an idea proposed by some economists, such as the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitzto deal with inequality aggravated by events such as the pandemic or the war in Ukraine.
In Colombia, Gustavo Petro’s tax reform includes a de facto tax on windfall profits from oil and coal companies, which are the country’s main exports.
*With Eph
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