Friday, July 28, 2023
Windfall tax failing consumers
The news that British Gas has reported its highest-ever first-half profits, of almost £1bn, while Shell has reported profits of just over $5bn (£3.9bn) for the second quarter of the year, must raise serious questions as to why consumers are being penalised with soaring energy bills, while fat cats line their own pockets, and why government ministers are letting them get away with it.
Ed Miliband, quoted in the Guardian, is absolutely right when he described the current windfall tax as being full of as many holes as swiss cheese.
He rightly points out that bllions of pounds will go to shareholders instead of being recouped in tax and put towards more help for those struggling to pay their bills:
Miliband said Sunak had been “dragged kicking and screaming” to implement a windfall tax on oil and gas firms. The existing policy was like a “Swiss cheese” and “full of holes”, the Labour frontbencher claimed.
He called for the current rate, 75% of profits, to be upped to 78%, and criticised the so-called super-deduction that allows companies to reduce their payment if they invest in British energy projects, saying Labour would close the “loophole”.
“These are unearned, unexpected profits,” Miliband told BBC Breakfast “This is because Russia launched an appalling invasion of Ukraine and drove gas prices up.
“The only long-term answer is to move off fossil fuels as quickly as we can because even though we imported very small amounts from Russia before the war, we’ve been so badly affected as a country.
“That’s why the drive to increase onshore wind, solar energy, offshore wind – cheaper than fossil fuels – is the right answer for the country. And my regret is not just that we don’t have a proper windfall tax, it’s that we don’t have a government committed to that green sprint either.”
It is time for more direct action by government to rein in these obsecene profits and provide better protection for consumers.
Ed Miliband, quoted in the Guardian, is absolutely right when he described the current windfall tax as being full of as many holes as swiss cheese.
He rightly points out that bllions of pounds will go to shareholders instead of being recouped in tax and put towards more help for those struggling to pay their bills:
Miliband said Sunak had been “dragged kicking and screaming” to implement a windfall tax on oil and gas firms. The existing policy was like a “Swiss cheese” and “full of holes”, the Labour frontbencher claimed.
He called for the current rate, 75% of profits, to be upped to 78%, and criticised the so-called super-deduction that allows companies to reduce their payment if they invest in British energy projects, saying Labour would close the “loophole”.
“These are unearned, unexpected profits,” Miliband told BBC Breakfast “This is because Russia launched an appalling invasion of Ukraine and drove gas prices up.
“The only long-term answer is to move off fossil fuels as quickly as we can because even though we imported very small amounts from Russia before the war, we’ve been so badly affected as a country.
“That’s why the drive to increase onshore wind, solar energy, offshore wind – cheaper than fossil fuels – is the right answer for the country. And my regret is not just that we don’t have a proper windfall tax, it’s that we don’t have a government committed to that green sprint either.”
It is time for more direct action by government to rein in these obsecene profits and provide better protection for consumers.
