Greenpeace
In response to BP announcing £7.1 ($8.2 billion) profit in Q3,
Philip Evans, oil and gas campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said:
"Another week, another £7.1 billion banked by BP in profits, with
billions to be paid out to investors. Meanwhile the homes of the
poorest households in the UK urgently need insulation, the
growing numbers in fuel poverty need financial support, and
further investment in cheap renewables could lower our bills
permanently. As Chancellor, Sunak imposed a windfall tax on these
companies but gave them a loophole so big it turned into a huge
tax break for more oil and gas. That won’t address the cost of
living crisis, won’t provide energy security and will only make
the climate emergency worse. An appropriate level of tax on BP
and the other oil majors could contribute to the costs of the
energy crisis and adapting to climate impacts, the investment in
solutions necessary to avoid the more devastating impacts yet to
come, and the loss and damage that the most vulnerable
communities in the Global South have already experienced."
IPPR
The UK’s leading progressive thinktank, IPPR, has responded to
the announcement that BP has made $8.2bn (£7.1bn) in profits in
the last quarter (Jul-Sept) and announced a new round of share
buybacks totalling $2.5bn. IPPR’s recent publication Buy Back
Better argues that these buybacks are a direct cash transfer
away from households struggling to pay bills, via energy company
profits, to already-wealthy shareholders.
Dr George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice
at IPPR, said:
“Companies like BP are making huge profits and channelling these
straight back to already-wealthy shareholders through share
buyback schemes. Instead of reducing costs for consumers or
investing in renewable energy, these fossil fuel giants are
prioritising transfers to shareholders. BP has announced a new
buyback programme today of $2.5bn, totalling $8.5bn this year
alone.
“There is an alternative. The US have recently levied a tax on
share buybacks and the UK should follow suit. A 25 per cent
windfall tax on the share buybacks of BP and Shell would raise up
to £4.8 billion per year for the treasury. Taxes which could be
spent on supporting households across the UK.”
A new report published by IPPR and Common Wealth last
week contained the following analysis:
-
Share buybacks channel profits from companies to shareholders by
increasing the value of shareholders’ stock.
- FTSE
100 companies have already announced £46.9 billion of share
buybacks so far in 2022.
-
President Biden has recently introduced a 1 per cent tax on share
buybacks to help alleviate the cost-of-living crisis in
America.
- A 25
per cent tax on share buy backs could raise £11 billion
a year, with £4.6bn of that from Shell and BP.
