Italy, Spain… these countries that tax superprofits
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This is called “putting a coin back in the jukebox”. The haunting music on the taxation of superprofits will rise a tone, after the publication, Friday, September 2, of the profits of the container ship owner CMA CGM: 7.6 billion euros in the second quarter, after 7, 2 billion to the first. Thus, TotalEnergies, which achieved 10.4 billion euros in net income in the first half, is no longer the only one to be the target of recurring criticism from a large part of the political class, from the National Rally to the political parties. of Nupes.
Superprofits? Purists say there is no economic definition of it, but rather a momentary financial outperformance. A divergence of appreciation that crosses the government. “I don’t know what a superprofit is”affirmed the Minister of Economy and Finance, on August 30, during the meetings of the French companies of the Medef. “Taxing more in France means producing less in France”, added Bruno Le Maire. More nuanced, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, leaves the option open if she finds, at the end of the year, that the bosses have not redistributed part of this windfall in salaries, bonuses or lower prices.
In March, the International Energy Agency estimated at 200 billion euros the surplus profits that European energy companies could reap in 2022. However, the profits of TotalEnergies, Shell and BP or electricity producers like Engie are not due to an investment effort, but only to the surge in oil, gas and electricity prices. No more for the shipowner CMA CGM: the world number three in the sector has benefited from the surge in freight rates since mid-2020 – container prices which it sets itself.
“Scandalous” profits
Even liberal institutions find nothing wrong with additional taxation. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development defends it to finance aid to households and businesses. The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, is in favor of the Member States of the European Union being able to “temporarily tax excess profits from exceptionally high electricity prices”. Judging certain benefits “scandalous”the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, called, at the beginning of August, “all governments [les] tax and use these funds to support the most vulnerable”.
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