A brief history of windfall taxes: who used them and why

In 1981, Margaret Thatcher’s then chancellor, Geoffrey Howe, accused high street banks of escaping the recession and introduced a special budget levy. Photograph: Geoff Bruce/Getty Images

Windfall taxes are often cited by Conservative MPs as “unTory” and the preserve of the political left desperate to recoup cash from “fat cats” making excessive profits.

Clement Attlee’s postwar Labour government imposed several surcharges on companies and estates, including a 100% excess profits tax (EPT), which lasted a year.