Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault recently lashed out at oil companies for making very limited investments in climate action even as massive inflation-driven profits allowed them to pad the wallets of shareholders.
The proposal follows in the footsteps of the U.S., which passed a one per cent tax on stock buybacks this summer. It also comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of high corporate profits and accusations of “greedflation.” There are already some investment tax credits available to oil and gas companies, including a new one to spur investment in carbon capture and storage that will allow them to claim up to 50 per cent of the cost of installing the technology starting this year.Article content
However, Robertson said imposing a tax won’t stop companies from wanting to reward shareholders, and can create a special one-time dividend during a year of strong profits.
The government sees this as an easy tax because ‘only fat cats care about share buybacks’. They don’t care about investment