Shell winnings could pay every Brighton and Hove employee seven times over
According to figures, Shell’s record profits for 2022 could pay seven times the annual salary of every employee in Brighton and Hove.
The oil major posted a record after-tax profit of $39.9 billion (£32.2 billion) last year, beating the previous record of $31 billion set in 2008.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the average worker in Brighton and Hove earned an average annual salary of £35,664 in 2022, according to the latest monthly figures for October.
On that basis, Shell could potentially pay the region’s 128,441 permanent employees seven times what it earned last year.
Shadow Minister for Climate Change Ed Miliband said: “As the British people face a 40 per cent rise in energy prices in April, the government is letting fossil fuel companies, who are making record profits by refusing to introduce a reasonable windfall tax, off the hook.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “No company should make such outrageous profits [Vladimir] Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
“Rishi Sunak was warned as Chancellor and now Prime Minister that we need a proper windfall tax on companies like Shell and he has done nothing.”
Shell also announced it will pay an additional $4 billion (£3.2 billion) to shareholders via a new share buyback program and increase dividend payments by 15 percent.
dr George Dibb, head of the Center for Economic Justice at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the transfer of wealth from billpayers to shareholders is “inexcusable” and requires government intervention.
dr Dibb said: “Instead of reinvesting those profits into the transition to net zero, they are spending billions to enrich their own shareholders and executives.
“The UK should follow the example of the US and Canada and tax these share buybacks fairly to raise hundreds of millions for the Treasury.”
Campaign groups have urged the government to impose an unexpected tax as people face soaring bills and unions are locked in a wave of strikes to protest the pay.
Sana Yusuf, climate activist at Friends of the Earth, said: “Fairly taxing her excess profits could help fund a nationwide program to insulate and promote renewable energy that will cut bills, keep homes warmer and reduce harmful CO2 emissions.” would reduce emissions.”
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23296696.shell-profits-pay-every-brighton-hove-employee-seven-times/?ref=rss Shell winnings could pay every Brighton and Hove employee seven times over
