The left-wing coalition Nupes presented, on Wednesday 21 September, a bill to tax the “super-profits” of big companies and to try to obtain a referendum of shared initiative, a long-term procedure which must first be approved by the Constitutional Council.
The text was signed by 240 parliamentarians, declared the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure, on the initiative. The bill of the Nupes (LFI, PS, PCF and EELV) must, in the event of a green light from the Constitutional Council within a month, obtain nearly five million citizen signatures in nine months to trigger a referendum.
“We hope that this procedure will create a balance of power” with the presidential majority, underlined Olivier Faure, while the debate on the taxation of “super-profits”, in a period of explosion in energy prices and high cost of living, will punctuate budgetary discussions throughout the autumn in Parliament.
Before a hypothetical referendum in several months, the rebellious deputy Eric Coquerel, at the head of the finance committee, hopes “win this battle” in the fall, through amendments to the 2023 draft budget.
The text of the Nupes plans to tax the “super profits” of “large companies”, “mostly multinational”with a turnover of more than 750 million euros, all sectors combined.
And the left points to targets: the oil group TotalEnergies, the pharmaceutical group Sanofi and the shipowner CMA CGM, in sectors where “exceptional profits, decorrelated from any innovation, productivity gain or internal strategic decision within the company”.