Windfall profit taxes are pure economic populism and thus bad policy

Germany’s government just became the latest to ingratiate itself with angry voters by promising a windfall tax on energy companies. One way or another, these levies aim to seize “excess” profits and redistribute them to needy consumers aching from the soaring costs of electricity and heating. 
 

Several countries, from the UK to Italy and Greece, have already done something similar. Others — including the European Union — are lining up their own proposals.

No matter the specific form, the sheer notion of windfall or excess-profits levies is cynical populism, and therefore bad policy. Proponents offer them as a deceptively simple