The energy group benefits above all from the high electricity and gas prices.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf Not only the international oil giants are making billions in profits, German energy companies are also currently benefiting from the crisis. Just a few days ago, RWE revised its forecast for the current year upwards by a whopping 1.5 billion euros. The reason for this is the good results from trading in electricity, coal and gas, driven by record energy prices.
Meanwhile, the federal government has agreed on the gas levy. From October 1st, gas traders like Uniper will be able to pass on their additional costs resulting from the failure of Russian deliveries to their customers.
As a result, consumers are faced with significantly higher gas prices – in the worst case, this can mean more than a thousand euros per year for a family of four. The instrument is intended to save systemically important companies such as Uniper from bankruptcy.
But because consumer prices are already at record levels, more and more Germans are supporting the SPD and Greens’ call for a special tax on so-called excess profits in times of crisis. According to a recent survey by the opinion research institute Infratest Dimap on behalf of ARD Deutschlandtrends, 76 percent think a special tax on high additional profits from energy companies is right.
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SPD leader Saskia Esken renewed the call for such a tax on Friday. It’s about companies that make excessive profits without their own performance and innovation, “i.e. profit from the crisis,” she said on ARD. The state should skim off this in order to relieve citizens and small companies.
The EU Commission in Brussels gave the member states the green light for an excess profit tax back in the spring. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has now called for greater taxation of energy companies out of concern about a social crisis.
In fact, several countries are already in the process of introducing such a tax. In addition to Spain, Belgium also intends to tax energy companies’ excess profits at 25 percent and use the revenue to reduce energy costs for private households. It is already a reality in Great Britain, a done deal in Italy, and France and Austria are also considering appropriate steps.
Experts warn of a wave of protests
In Germany, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) in particular opposes the proposal. “A special tax would open the floodgates to populist reflexes in tax policy,” warned the FDP politician in an interview with the Handelsblatt. Lindner sees this as endangering trust in the tax system, Germany as a location for innovation and the right investment incentives.
An expert opinion by the scientific service of the Bundestag suggests that the introduction of a special profit tax would also be possible in Germany. The Advisory Board of the Ministry of Finance, on the other hand, warns against “ad hoc taxation of individual activities”. With a special taxation of crisis profits, Germany would “endanger the high reputation it has built up over decades as a location with secure property rights and reliable legal structures”.
The debate should continue to gain momentum. Numerous citizens, but also corona deniers, conspiracy supporters, Reich citizens and right-wing extremists have announced actions due to the energy price crisis. Security experts warn of mass protests in autumn and winter if industrial production collapses due to a gas emergency.
Then the corona protests could have been a “children’s birthday”, Thuringia’s intelligence chief Stephan Kramer recently told the “Spiegel”. In an interview with the Handelsblatt, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also warned of the potential for “mobilization and radicalization”.
More: Oil companies make huge profits – and continue to invest in fossil fuels
