Biden criticizes oil companies that make profits from the war in Ukraine

The president of United States, Joe Biden, advanced this Monday the possibility that the oil companies have to pay a special tax on your windfall if they do not increase domestic production so that lower gas prices.

“Because 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,” Biden said in a statement. speech from the White House. The president also said that he is already working with legislators in Congress to assess these options.

Biden framed his proposal in a context of record profits of the country’s main oil companies as a result of russian invasion Ukraine, which has turned the international energy market upside down.

“I am a capitalist”

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 having a fair profit for their investment and innovation, but that is not even remotely what is happening,” he assured.

Biden cited the profit figures of the 6 main US oil companies, which in the last 6 months have made a profit of 100,000 million dollars.

Repurchase of shares

According to this source, the oil companies, instead of increasing their domestic production capacity to lower fuel prices at gas stations, are taking advantage of profits to buy back shares and thus pay higher dividends to its shareholders.

Related news

Windfall taxes are an idea proposed by some economists, such as the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, to tackle 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.

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