Jeremy Hunt eyeing fresh windfall tax grab on multi-billion pound profits made by energy giants | The Sun
JEREMY Hunt is eyeing a fresh windfall tax grab on the eye-watering profits being made by energy giants, The Sun understands.
Raiding the revenues of oil and gas titans is one option being considered by the Chancellor to plug a £35billion black hole in the public purse.
Mr Hunt and Rishi Sunak began going through a raft of proposals “line by line” together yesterday ahead of next month’s Budget.
Government sources confirmed that extending the current windfall tax on energy giants’ profits was on the cards.
The PM himself introduced the current 25 per cent levy as Chancellor to raise £7billion this year and £10billion next year to fund measures helping squeezed families with their bills.
Demands for a deeper tax flared yesterday as Shell posted profits of £8billion for just the last three months – twice the amount for the same period last year.
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It also emerged that the company dodged the windfall tax because large investments in the UK meant they did not profit in this country.
The firm’s finance chief said: “We simply are investing more heavily than we have, and therefore we don't have profits which we can be taxed against.”
Labour’s Ed Miliband said it was “further proof that we need a proper windfall tax to make the energy companies pay their fair share”.
Yesterday Downing Street said “no options are off the table given the economic circumstances”.
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Cabinet Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the PM and Chancellor will “look at every decision.”
But he warned against shaping a “tax system that disincentives investment”.
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Mr Hunt is scrambling for savings ahead of the Autumn Statement on November 17 where he is expected to make spending cuts.
Yesterday he invited former Chancellor George Osborne – the driver of coalition austerity in a ruthless bid to balance the books – to Downing Street for a meeting.
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