UK Finance Minister Urged to Raise Taxes on Companies Profiting from Iran War

JAKARTA - British Finance Minister (Menkeu) Rachel Reeves has been urged to raise taxes on companies that are expected to reap huge profits from the impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The Guardian reported that the demand came as households in the UK were threatened with renewed cost-of-living pressures due to soaring energy prices.

Rachel Reeves is an official who holds the British government's fiscal policy. In the British system, his position is equivalent to the finance minister, with the authority to regulate taxes, state spending, and economic policy direction.

According to The Guardian report, the pressure came from a combination of charities, campaign groups, and trade unions. They assessed that the conflict in the Middle East opened up opportunities for large profits for energy companies, banks, agricultural commodity businesses, the defense industry, and technology companies. At a time when the public is overshadowed by rising living costs, corporate excess profits are considered to be left unchecked.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Reeves, the group which includes Greenpeace UK, the National Education Union, and Tax Justice UK asked the government to strengthen the windfall tax on North Sea energy companies. They also urged new levies on other sectors that benefit from the economic impact of the war. Additional state revenues, they said, could be used for emergency living assistance as well as strengthening the UK's economic resilience to the next energy shock.

The Guardian also wrote that Reeves had signaled the government was ready to channel targeted assistance to households affected by the turmoil of the conflict. However, he warned companies not to take excessive profits from the crisis. The UK's competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority, has been asked to be on alert to detect and crack down on price-gouging practices.

The UK currently has a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies, the energy profits levy, which runs until 2030. However, according to the report, Reeves had previously planned to loosen the tax before the US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, 2026. Political pressure then widened. Richard Walker, a member of the upper house of the Labour Party and chairman of the Iceland supermarket chain, urged Starmer to consider profit restrictions for energy and fuel companies.

Faiza Shaheen of Tax Justice UK, as quoted by The Guardian, judged the government to be too slow. Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Finance stated that the country already had additional taxes for the banking and energy sectors, and was preparing a new framework to crack down on unreasonable price increases.