Yanis Darras
modified to
9:05 a.m., October 13, 2022
Sacha Houlié, Renaissance deputy and President of the Law Commission at the National Assembly, was the guest of Europe 1. Asked about the superprofits of certain energy players, the deputy from Vienne announced that “the State will do everything in its power” to better distribute the wealth, also announcing “to vote a tax on the exceptional profits of energy companies”.
To tax or not to tax the exceptional profits of energy companies? This is a question on which the opposition and the government have been torn apart for several months. Invited this Thursday morning at the microphone of Europe 1, the Renaissance deputy of Vienna announces that “the State will do everything in its power” to better distribute the wealth.
Taxation of “super dividends”
“We will not hesitate to transpose the European rules on superprofits into the next budget. And moreover, we are going to vote today in Parliament, a tax on the exceptional profits of energy companies”, he explains, before adding: “And we will also vote for a blocking of the price of electricity, which will make it possible to free up nearly 20 billion euros.”
But the opposition intends not to stop there. This Wednesday, an amendment of the MoDem proposing to tax the “super dividends” of companies next year, was voted by the National Assembly. A snub to the government, largely opposed to this idea.
“Exceptional situation”
“The MoDem has tabled an amendment that I personally voted for”, recognizes Sacha Houlié. He assures him, “many parliamentarians from the majority wanted to vote for this amendment, or in any case, they wanted to reach out to the opposition.” And for the president of the law commission, a tax on superdividends would not be contrary to the policy adopted by Emmanuel Macron for five years, to tax companies less.
“Company taxes have fallen from 33 to 25% for corporate tax. Exemptions from contributions have also been made permanent. Today, we are in an exceptional situation, which means that some are making exceptional profits, without do nothing. Energy is very expensive”, so yes, something has to be done, he concludes.