The European Commission will discuss the possibility of introducing an additional tax on the profits of energy companies. This was reported by the Financial Times on September 7, citing unnamed informed sources.
It is specified that the EU authorities are going to use the funds from these taxes to compensate for the increased energy costs in 2022. It is assumed that the plan for introducing the tax will be discussed by the energy ministers of the EU countries next Friday.
Kommersant notes that in the past and this year, the profits of many oil and gas and energy companies have grown significantly after the removal of coronavirus restrictions and against the backdrop of a revival of economic activity around the world. In particular, British BP in August reported a quarterly profit of $8.45 billion, a record for the last 14 years. Oil and gas company Shell also reported a record quarterly profit of $18 billion earlier.
At the same time, according to the FT, the EU authorities intend to introduce an additional tax on excess profits not only from hydrocarbon companies but also from those who work with other energy sources – nuclear and wind. However, all these proposals must first be approved by the EU member states, so the discussion can get quite complicated.
Recall that during the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum on September 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would refuse to supply energy to those countries where political decisions would be made that contradict the terms of contracts for the supply of oil and gas.
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