PRESS RELEASE : Further windfall taxes are not the solution to rising energy bills [October 2022]

The press release issued by the IEA on 27 October 2022.

Commenting on demands for further windfall taxes on oil and gas companies, Andy Mayer, Chief Operating Officer and Energy Analyst at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“Demanding a new windfall tax every time a company posts a profit is the politics of a banana republic. Few companies will invest where politicians are hostile to development before it happens, then punish success after the event.

“Meanwhile we have a global energy crisis. The only near-term solution is to increase supply. The UK response has been to slap three windfall taxes on the North Sea, ban fracking, and promote ‘fairytale’ energy plans for alternatives, all of which still rely on 20-30 years further supplies of fossil fuels.

“These policies drive away investment, increase our reliance on expensive dirtier imports, and undermine the tax base needed to fund a low carbon transition. If the imports are disrupted, with all countries chasing the same resources, the situation is perilous, with an elevated winter risk of the lights going out and elderly freezing to death in their homes.

“This is not a situation in which Parliament should be prioritising juvenile anti-business posing and cowardly virtue signalling to nimbies.”