As oil profits skyrocket, calls for windfall taxes rise

Oil companies are making big bucks these days. Hengki Lestio/iStock / Getty Images Plus When Chevron reported its highest quarterly profit in six years on July 31, 2026, it was just one detail in a larger picture: Analyst firm Wood Mackenzie estimates the global oil and gas industry is on course for a cash windfall of US$495 billion in 2026. That’s profit above and beyond what the industry expected before the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began. Three separate bills seeking to tax those profits are…