In Spain there is an excess profit tax on crisis profits. The government wants to protect the middle class and workers. A role model for Germany?
Madrid – “This government will not allow the suffering of many to be the gain of individuals,” said Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recently, announcing a two-year excess profit tax. The special tax should apply to energy companies and banks, reports the German Press Agency .
The “progressive government” will “do everything to protect the middle class and the workers,” added Sánchez. The state will take in around two billion euros per year – the standard even comes up with its calculation to 3.5 billion. According to this, Sánchez wants to support around one million students who receive a scholarship of between 2,200 and 2,900 euros with an additional 100 euros per month.
Spain introduces excess profit tax – and thus finances free public transport
Local and regional public transport will be free of charge. In addition, households are relieved. There will be an upper limit for rent increases, VAT for electricity will drop from ten to five percent, low pensions will be raised by 15 percent. The minimum wage is also increasing.
In Germany, too, there are discussions about an excess profit tax. SPD and Greens are open to the levy – the FDP, led by Finance Minister Christian Lindner, is strictly against it. “I can only warn against populism at this point,” he told the German Press Agency in early June. “We don’t know if there are excess profits.”
FDP and Lindner brace themselves against excess profit tax
The tax law knows no excess profits, it only knows profits, said the finance minister. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert would find such a fee fair. “No additional burden for the top performers in the middle of society,” said Kühnert the mirror . Ricarda Lang told Wirtschaftswoche that other countries were doing the same.
“You can stipulate that for certain sectors, for example for mineral oil and energy companies. I could imagine that.” “In the end, you need both: an excess profit tax and an examination by the Cartel Office,” said the federal chairwoman of the Greens. Whether the traffic light coalition will still find an agreement remains to be seen. For this, the FDP would have to deviate from its negative attitude. The example of Spain shows that an excess profit tax is possible. (mse)
