5 countries ask Brussels to tax energy companies benefitting from Iran crisis – POLITICO
In the letter, the ministers argued Brussels should do as it did following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when it authorized the imposition of a temporary “solidarity contribution” on energy companies to “mitigate the direct economic effects of the soaring energy prices for public authorities’ budgets, final customers and companies.” The 2022 measure imposed a minimum tax of 33 percent on all oil and gas company profits that exceeded the average recorded during the previous four years by more than 20 percent. In addition to proposing a similar framework, the ministers requested the Commission determine if it can also tax profits that multinational oil companies earn abroad. Oil and gas companies are making huge profits off the supply crisis provoked by the conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20 percent of the oil and natural gas that powers the global economy runs. French oil giant TotalEnergies is reported to have made $1 billion in profits after acquiring dozens of Middle Eastern crude cargoes during the first …
