In Spain and Hungary, even in Belgium, the governments want to apply exceptional taxes to them. The idea is to use these companies – which, in general, are doing well – to finance anti-inflation measures and help the poorest households.
The model is the tax put in place on the oil giants in England, or in Italy. An exceptional tax on banks could bring in 1.5 billion euros a year to the Spanish government. You will not be surprised, the European banking federation denounces “discriminatory measures”.
For the moment France is not concerned but this summer, the question of a tax on companies that make super profits was debated at length in the National Assembly. It was not adopted but it could come up for discussion during the budget debate this fall. The French government is against it, it prefers that companies make direct gestures in favor of consumers. It is, according to him, more effective, more direct than the collection of a tax like Total which has lowered the price of fuel. The oil giant has set up a discount on the liter in its gas stations in addition to that adopted by the executive.
The French government is also asking banks to limit their costs and insurance companies to reduce premiums. Bruno Le Maire had already spoken about it in the spring, but the Minister of the Economy is coming back to it. He wants to quickly bring these sectors together to talk about it. But there again, bankers as insurers brake four irons. Insurers are highlighting their support for customers affected this summer by fires or bad weather, not to mention that with the rise in the price of materials, the repair of claims is costing them more.
As for the banks, they recall that they have capped bank charges for the four million most vulnerable customers. The federation says “that the banks have paid this year nearly 24 billion euros in taxes to the State. They are among the largest contributors.” Suffice to say that the discussion with Bercy promises to be lively. For the moment, we have no date for the meeting promised by Bruno Le Maire.