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John,
Oil and gas corporations are reaping a bonanza from higher gas prices. Just look at this tweet from Bernie Sanders about their revenues this year:
These skyrocketing revenues come after a year in which the largest oil and gas corporations combined to make a record $174 billion in profits.[1]
Sign the petition to President Biden to fight for a windfall profits tax to hold Big Oil accountable, and use that revenue to provide direct rebates to consumers to help ease the pain at the pump.
While President Biden has correctly criticized oil and gas corporations’ massive profits at a time of rising prices for millions of Americans, there are actions that the United States can and must take to hold them accountable.
The United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Romania, and Bulgaria have each implemented their own forms of a windfall profits tax to help consumers lower their energy bills.
In the UK, every household receives a £400 discount on their energy bill―roughly $480 dollars―funded, in part, by a 25% surcharge on the windfall profits of oil and gas companies.[2]
In Italy, a 10% windfall profits tax was raised to 25% to help families keep their energy bills around where they were in 2021, while also providing about $200 in direct payments to poorer families and investing in renewable energy. In Spain, a windfall profits tax was passed all the way back in September of 2021, allowing them to reduce the value added tax on energy bills from 21% down to 10%. Romania and Bulgaria also designed their own versions of the tax.
A windfall profits tax on oil and gas corporations is necessary to curb excess profits and to rebate those profits to help consumers struggling with rising out-of-pocket costs on everything from energy to healthcare to food.
Sign the petition to President Biden to join our leaders in Congress and our national allies in fighting to hold oil and gas corporations accountable.
Thank you for taking action today to protect the American people from corporate greed.
Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] “Exclusive: oil companies’ profits soared to $174bn this year as US gas prices rose,” The Guardian, Dec 6, 2021
[2] https://youtu.be/BjOdtX3T2XU
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