Pressure was mounting on the government, Thursday, July 21, to involve companies that have made large profits thanks to inflation, some elected representatives of the majority now also demanding an exceptional tax on “superprofits”an idea rejected for the moment by the executive.
A platform of deputies from the Renaissance group (ex-La République en Marche), appeals from two committee chairmen of the National Assembly, an amendment to the amending finance bill… elected officials from the presidential camp are trying to obtain more “solidarity” large groups. “We will make the profiteers of the crisis pay. Because I am opposed to rents, I affirm that the companies which derive profits from the crisis must pay more”thus launched on TwitterThursday, the chairman of the law commission, Sacha Houlié.
The amendment tabled Monday by twelve Renaissance MPs, on the initiative of the MP for Maine-et-Loire Stella Dupont, thus proposes a “exceptional contribution of solidarity” 15% on the profits of “oil and gas, shipping and cargo companies”who “realize a turnover of more than 1 billion euros”. They believe that these companies “did not meet the height of the needs” in terms of “solidarity and equity”.
This amendment comes from elected officials from the left wing of the majority, including three former ministers, a sign that the debate is growing in the presidential camp, and beyond. The Republican deputies also advanced their pawns: their president, Olivier Marleix, felt that his party had no “no hostility to the state, by law, making more use of oil companies if necessary”.
So far the offensive has come mainly from the left-wing alliance of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) and to a lesser extent from the National Rally. In the line of sight: mainly energy companies, such as TotalEnergies and the shipping giant CMA CGM, which are benefiting from soaring oil and gas prices and container transport costs.
The government awaiting announcements from companies
Can this rise to the front of elected officials lead to the vote of a tax? “We want to avoid this false good idea. We need fiscal stability. On the other hand, we expect announcements from these companies and a gesture at the pump. We do everything for »underlines the general rapporteur of the budget in the Assembly, Jean-René Cazeneuve (Renaissance).
On the executive side, we always brake with four irons. For weeks, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, has been defending the idea of voluntary contributions from companies. These have already announced actions – lower transport costs for CMA CGM and pumping back for TotalEnergies.
“Do they need to do more? Certainly yes “declared the Mayor in The world Wednesday evening. “We will do the accounts during the 2023 finance bill” in the fall, he warned, echoing Emmanuel Macron, who promised on July 14 a ” contribution “ companies but “not in demagoguery”.
In a column published Thursday by The echoesa dozen other Renaissance deputies, including David Amiel, former adviser to Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée, rather defend the line of the executive, asking “solemnly to hydrocarbon companies a new and urgent strategy to help the French”under penalty of “defend the tax measures that would be required”.
On France infothe government spokesman, Olivier Véran, “hope” of the ” advertisement “ by the weekend with “something that is immediately visible (…) for the French people “. This is the whole argument: to affirm that a gesture by companies will have an immediate effect on purchasing power, when a tax will go into the coffers of the State, later. Especially since a group like TotalEnergies makes most of its profits internationally, which reduces the impact of a tax levied in France.