Letter from Canada: Risk of windfall profit tax grows
Governments around the world are under pressure to implement windfall profit taxes on oil and gas companies, and Canada may be poised to follow suit
The UK and India have introduced windfall taxes on oil and gas company profits over the past three months, while the US is seriously considering the move. Italy, Romania and Spain have introduced a levy for their power producers, while the EU is mulling a tax for the bloc as a whole. The core argument for these taxes, according to Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and many others, is that profits are presently extraordinarily high simply due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impact on global oil and gas markets. The companies have done nothing to earn them. The Canadian government has yet to indicate any plans for a windfall tax, but in early May federal environment ministe
Also in this section
5 September 2024
The 20th century’s two global conflicts made clear the geopolitical importance of oil, while Russia and Saudi Arabia joined the US as hydrocarbons superpowers
5 September 2024
In the second part of our history of oil special on the ascent of the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia, we examine the early years of the age of oil
5 September 2024
In this first part of the first chapter of our 90th anniversary special on the history of oil, we look at oil’s humble beginnings and the start of its rise to prominence
2 September 2024
The island nation plans to phase out nuclear energy and substitute coal for gas, but must first overcome import capacity constraints