US President Joe Biden will raise the prospect of imposing an extraordinary tax on energy companies on Monday, as his administration aims to combat high gasoline prices with a midterm election.
The White House said Biden would “comment in response to reports in recent days that major oil companies have made record profits even as they refuse to help lower gas prices for the American people.” We do.” A person familiar with the matter said Biden would propose taxing energy companies’ profits because he wants to pressure them to lower prices for consumers. The person offered a preview of Biden’s remarks on condition of anonymity.
“Oil companies made billions of dollars in profits this quarter,” Biden tweeted on Saturday. “They’re using these record profits to pay their wealthy shareholders instead of investing in production and lowering costs for Americans. That’s unacceptable. It’s time for these companies to lower prices at gas stations.” Is.”
Higher prices at gas stations have driven up inflation and taken a toll on Biden and Democrats, standing with voters.
Congress would have to pass any additional taxes on energy producers, which would be a tall order in the current Congress, where Democrats have limited control of the House and Senate, and even less likely in the event that Republicans control one or both chambers. achieve. on 8 November.
Last week, Exxon Mobil broke a record with its profit for the third quarter of the year, taking in $19.66 billion in net income, and Chevron reported a profit of $11.23 billion, roughly matching the record profit it made in the previous quarter. was.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), Americans have been battling high gas prices in recent months, paying an average of more than $4.80 for a gallon of regular gas in early July. Since then, they have fallen to a national average of 3.76, but the White House believes they should be lower given the fall in global oil prices over the same period.
