Shell profits branded 'sickening' as energy giant rakes in £68 billion in single year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The UK Government has been called on to impose a fresh windfall tax on energy giants after Shell recorded the largest profit in its 115-year history.SNP, Labour, Greens and the Lib Dems have all urged the Conservative Government to expand its windfall tax after the energy company announced that its 2022 profits had rocketed to £68.1billion.Shell have benefitted from increased energy costs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Bumper profits by producers in 2022 prompted the Government to launch a windfall tax, called the Energy Profits Levy.Shell said it paid £1.5 billion in windfall tax charges to the UK and EU.But opposition parties have said that the windfall tax does not go far enough.

An investment incentive loophole allows oil and gas firms to claw back more than 91 per cent of their capital investment in the form of tax relief.The campaign group End Fuel Poverty Coalition said in December that ending the loophole would have generated at least £22bn in additional revenue.The Prime Minister's Official spokesperson said on Thursday that he was "not aware of any plans to expand" the windfall tax.SNP energy spokesman Alan Brown said that the Government should expand the windfall tax and use the money to reduce household energy costs.Brown said: "The Tory government must scrap its outrageous plan to raise the energy bill price cap again in April - and guarantee the Energy Bill Support Scheme payments for households will continue."People will feel sick that, instead of helping ordinary families, the Tories are allowing big energy companies to make record profits and are forcing taxpayers to subsidise shareholders."The Chancellor should follow the lead of other countries by taxing share buy backs, and expanding the