$4 a gallon for you. $14.53 billion for Exxon. Tell Congress to tax Big Oil.
Gas prices are up more than 30% since Donald Trump's war with Iran began. The national average is close to $4 a gallon … and rising. All told, Big Oil's war profiteering has cost Americans more than $40 billion.²
Exxon Mobil earned $14.53 billion from April through June — more than twice what it made in the same three months of 2025. Chevron's quarterly profit climbed to $12.07 billion from $2.49 billion a year earlier. Shell's tripled to $10.82 billion.¹
And the industry isn't reinvesting that windfall. It's on track to spend less on producing oil and gas this year than it did in 2025.¹
We've seen this before. Fossil fuel companies exploit crises to lock in profits while families pay more.3 A windfall tax is a higher, one-time tax on companies that make massive, unexpected profits from events outside their control — like a war. In short, if you get lucky at the public's expense, you don't get to keep the profits.
There's already a bill. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Ro Khanna's Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act would require companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron to pay an estimated $33 billion or more per year — money returned directly to consumers as rebates.⁴
The Iran war is a humanitarian crisis, a climate assault, and an economic weight bearing down on working people. All while further enriching billionaires.5 To build a more just future, we have to confront corporate power. Making war profiteering expensive is a step in the right direction.
Sign and send a letter to Congress: rein in Big Oil's price-gouging. Pass a windfall profits tax.
Sources:
"Iran War Drives Oil Profits to Highest Levels in Years," The New York Times, July 31, 2026.
"Tracking U.S., state and county gas prices, in maps and charts," NBC News, updated Aug. 11, 2026.
"We Need To Tax the Corporations Cashing In On the Iran War," In These Times, April 14, 2026.
"As Trump's War Surges Gas Prices, Whitehouse and Khanna Reintroduce Big Oil Profits Clawback to Provide Relief at the Pump," U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, March 17, 2026.
"Who Could Profit From an Energy Crisis?," The New York Times, March 03, 2026.