Democrats Target Oil Companies With Plan to Tax Windfall Profits

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Elizabeth Warren say they’re working on a proposed new tax targeting profits being reaped by oil companies as crude prices spike amid geopolitical tensions.

“Big Oil’s first priority is to maximize profits,” Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, tweeted on Wednesday. “We can’t let them use Putin’s invasion as an excuse to pad their bottom line with war-fueled profits,” she said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. “So I’m working with Senate Democrats on a windfall-profits tax.”

Oil companies are enjoying their biggest windfalls in more than a decade as crude prices hit levels ...