Energy firms: Economists call for windfall profit taxes

PARIS: Prominent economists called Thursday for governments to introduce windfall profit taxes on energy companies who are set to reap financial benefits from the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The war has triggered a surge in prices of oil and gas which will boost the bottom lines of energy firms but is putting the pinch on consumers. “ICRICT is calling on governments to immediately impose a windfall profits tax on the oil, gas and fertiliser sectors as both economically sound and morally imperative,” said the group of economists led by Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz said in statement sent to AFP.

The surge in energy prices “disproportionately hurts ordinary workers, farmers, and fossil fuel importing nations, while a small group of large corporations and state producers accumulate windfall profits at their expense,” they said.

In addition to higher fuel prices the costs of a number of other critical inputs such as fertiliser have also jumped, raising the risk of a surge in inflation throughout economies.

The economists said a windfall tax on energy and fertiliser firms would target profits made due to the impact of the conflict, not those due to innovation or entrepreneurship.