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Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) considers the rapid introduction of an excess profit tax to be unlikely
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
In the debate about a possible excess profit tax, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) is dampening expectations.
He thinks the discussion is legitimate, but the legal situation is still unclear, Heil told the "Welt am Sonntag".
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai, on the other hand, described the idea of an excess profit tax, which Green politicians in particular consider worth considering, as "populist and dangerous".
Politicians are discussing an excess profit tax against the background of the Ukraine war.
Although its economic consequences pose problems for many companies, they enable significantly higher profits in individual sectors.
Proponents of an excess profit tax are currently focusing primarily on the mineral oil industry.
The corporations are accused of keeping the prices for petrol and diesel artificially high, although the so-called tank discount, a temporary reduction in the energy tax on fuel, has been in effect since June 1st.
In principle, he is not opposed to an excess profit tax, Heil told the "Welt am Sonntag".
The conservative Tories in Great Britain had launched a similar project - "and they are not suspected of being socialist redistributors," said the SPD politician.
However, certain questions still need to be clarified.
Opposition speaks of a diversionary maneuver
Djir-Sarai, on the other hand, told the newspapers of the Funke media group that an excess profit tax “would massively damage Germany as a business location.
In the future, companies would no longer invest with us, create jobs and pay their taxes.«
The FDP general secretary argued that no one could clearly define where "normal" profits ended and "excess profits" began.
»No industry in Germany would be safe from arbitrary taxation measures.«
The financial policy spokesman for the CSU state group in the Bundestag, Sebastian Brehm, called the debate a “populist sham fight”.
The "boom of the supposedly greedy corporations" was intended to distract from the fact "that the tax authorities are currently the biggest beneficiaries of inflation," he explained in Berlin.
In addition, consumers would ultimately pay for the new tax through even higher prices.
wbr/AFP
