In 2022, during the energy crisis, the EU introduced a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies, reviving a crisis measure used after the First and Second World Wars. The acute crisis is now over, but many others are looming, and it’s time to draw lessons and look ahead. Building on a growing debate, this study from Christoph Trautvetter (Netzwerk Steuergerechtigkeit, Germany) suggests a general and permanent tax targeting persistent excessive profits to address the crisis of inequality and democracy caused by big corporations that have become too big to regulate and to control democratically. It provides new data analysis on 209 of the biggest and most profitable companies, explores these companies in more detail and tells the story behind their excess profits to illustrate why the EU needs an excess profits tax.

An EU-wide levy on windfall profits of large corporations could pay for half of the EU’s current budget, new research from The Left in the European Parliament and the Tax Justice Network reveals. The study provides concrete figures for each EU member state for the first time. The 209 biggest and most profitable companies globally posted excessive profits of nearly €2 trillion in 2022, €310 billion in the EU. A progressive excess profits tax of 20 to 40 per cent on those profits could collect roughly €107 billion per year within the EU – more than half the EU’s budget.