Big Oil makes billions from war. You pay. Demand a profits tax.

The war in Iran is a tragedy, but for big oil companies, their CEOs and shareholders, it is a goldmine.

In the first year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, five of the biggest fossil fuel companies made US $134 billion in profits because of the war. [1] In response, some countries created a “windfall tax” to capture some of these additional profits. Only four years later, we are seeing the pattern repeat with this war in the Persian Gulf. Raking in excessive profits because of a deadly conflict is called war profiteering. We need more than a temporary “windfall tax”, we need a permanent excess profits tax.

These profits are not “earned”. When a conflict like the war in Iran drives up global energy prices, oil and gas corporations profit massively. [2] In Canada, our main supply of oil does not even come from the Persian Gulf region and we still face higher gas costs at the pump.

Canadian oil companies are expected to make 90 billion dollars in additional profit this year because of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran. [3]

Innocent people are dying in these wars, and the rest of us pay because of the rising costs of essentials like gas, food, heating, and transport. No one should profit from war and misery.

Together, we have to demand that our government put a stop to this war profiteering that we pay for. Let’s tax fossil fuel profits. The money can go to support households and workers during this affordability crisis.

Add your name to tell the Minister of Finance to create an excess profits tax that is triggered during social and economic crises. People should not have to pay for war profiteering.

Sources:

[1] Crisis year 2022 brought $134 billion in excess profit to the West’s five largest oil and gas companies, Global Witness, February 9 2023

[2] $30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers analysis finds, The Guardian, April 15 2026

[3] The oil industry is making billions from the Iran war - it should be taxed, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, April 8 2026