I’m sure we’ve read the recent announcement of Shell’s record-breaking £32bn pre-tax profits for 2022.
Inevitably there was outrage from the usual suspects, and rightly so. More so given that most of their profits was generated either directly or indirectly with the ongoing war in the Ukraine, oil embargos to Russia and the massive spike in energy prices throughout last year.
Wishy Washy’s Windfall Tax only generated roughly £110m from Shell’s profits, although that is expected to rise to around £420m this year. The £110m tax compares quite poorly to the EU’s equivalent tax on Shell of £430m for 2022.
Opposition parties, unions, poverty groups and eco-loons want the Windfall tax threshold increased not only for Shell but other Big Oil companies that announce record profits of a similar nature.
Shell also issued dividends to shareholders of some £5.1bn on the back of those profits, some of which went towards topping up private investment portfolios and private pensions. But again critics argued how ethical it is for private investors in Big Oil to profit while millions of households struggle with energy and food bills, along with thousands of Ukrainian and Russian people dying in the conflict..
The only good thing about Shell, is that last year they moved their HQ from the Netherlands to London. Not that it got much media attention probably because it would have bolstered support for the Brexit argument.
The Big Oil companies are indeed cunts for profiting on global conflicts. But that’s business and the basic concept of supply and demand.
The windfall tax as it currently stands is just a piss in a vast ocean and does little or nothing to either relieve some of the pain millions of ordinary people are going through, or boosting the Treasury’s coffers to help pay our crippling debts.
Nominated by: Technocunt



