WASHINGTON DC (Oct. 31, 2022)–In response to reports that President Biden is considering a windfall tax on Big Oil, John Noël, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA, said:
“President Biden’s serious consideration of a windfall tax on Big Oil companies is a step towards fixing an economy that prioritizes immoral corporate profits over working Americans’ who are trying to make ends meet. The net income of oil and gas companies is set to exceed $4 trillion dollars in 2022. Taxes on these obscene profits should happen regardless of whether Big Oil decides to increase production or not. More US drilling isn’t going to help solve the problem or lower prices – it will just deepen our dependence on expensive fossil fuels while destroying our climate, harming our health, and polluting communities.
“When profits are high, oil companies keep all the profits. When profits are low, taxpayers have to bail them out. Big fossil fuel companies claimed $8.2 billion in 2020 from the CARES Act pandemic relief bill and taxpayers foot the bill for up to $15 billion in direct federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry every year. It is simply not fair. Taxing these ill-gotten gains would allow President Biden to invest in people, not the oil and gas syndicates fueling the climate crisis, global pollution, and war.”
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Contact: Tyler Kruse, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, [email protected], 808-741-2791
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.
