ANP
NOS News•
There is widespread discomfort in the House of Representatives about the high profits that energy giant Shell made last year. While many citizens are struggling to pay their energy bills, the company announced today that it will have achieved more than 38 billion euros in profit in 2022.
Due to the high oil and gas prices, Shell saw the profit double. It was one of the best years in the company’s history. That money largely goes to the shareholders and parties from left to right in the Chamber actually think that is not possible.
During a debate on the new climate law, MPs from both the opposition and the coalition called Shell’s profits “exorbitant”. Many parties believe that oil companies should invest their excess profits in sustainability. Other major oil companies have also posted record profits.
Skimming
Left-wing parties such as GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, Party for the Animals and Volt want to skim off those profits by imposing an extra tax on the oil companies afterwards. As a result, they have to pay about half of the profit, according to a proposed amendment to the law. That should yield the treasury 1.7 billion euros, which can be used to insulate houses and to provide them with solar panels.
“It is time to fairly tax exorbitant excess profits of these companies and we can arrange that today,” says GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver. “These absurd excess profits are simply inexplicable,” says his PvdA colleague Attje Kuiken.
Headquarters to London
The coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie also feel discomfort with Shell’s top profits, but they wonder whether anything can be done about it. Since the departure of the head office to London, Shell is no longer a Dutch company and profits are taxed in the United Kingdom.
VVD MP Silvio Erkens pointed out that PvdA member Joris Thijssen had called Shell’s departure “a blessing for the country” in a tweet that he deleted shortly afterwards. “If only that departure had not taken place, we might have been able to do something now,” said Erkens.
