C in the air – Sueperprofits, companies … the Borne warning in streaming – Replay France 5

Tax the “super profits” of companies? Elisabeth Borne said she was not “closing the door” in an interview given to the daily Le Parisien on Saturday. The Prime Minister, however, indicated that she would prefer that the company which can “lower prices for the consumer and give purchasing power to its employees”. On the left, this exceptional tax has been demanded for many weeks. It has also been mentioned several times during the summer universities of the various parties of the NUPES, France insubordinate in the lead. The Rassemblement National also came out in favor of this tax. The idea is to redistribute the money from the record profits of certain companies that have benefited from inflation. Large energy groups, such as Total or Engie, would be particularly targeted by this tax.

Faced with a demand for fairness that is being heard, the majority is therefore now considering measures in this direction. “No one would understand that companies are making exceptional profits even though the French may be worried about their purchasing power,” said Elisabeth Borne on Saturday. But this open door, the president of the Médef Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, quickly tried to close it. Invited this morning on France Inter, he said he was opposed to these profits being taxed as claimed by the left. The leader of the main employers’ movement pointed to another “profiteer”. It is the State which, according to him, has reaped the most superprofits this year: “Who is the biggest super profiteer, if I dare, who makes the biggest superprofits: it is the State”, has he declared. “We have an economic situation which is less bad than elsewhere, let’s not increase taxes,” he further pleaded.

Abroad, several governments are also considering exceptional taxation of super profits, when they have not already implemented it. The United Kingdom has thus introduced an exceptional tax of 25% on the profits of gas and oil producers. Italy and Hungary have taken similar measures.

But will Elisabeth Borne take the plunge? Faced with the risks of power cuts or rationing this winter, the Prime Minister, in any case, called on each company “to establish, in September, its own sobriety plan”. “Each company must mobilize and act”, she said in her speech at the opening of the Medef’s Meeting of French Entrepreneurs. The Prime Minister gave them “an appointment at the beginning of October” to draw a “first assessment” of these energy saving plans.

She explained on Saturday that there would be “common sense constraints” for businesses. The Council of State is also examining two decrees on the extinction of illuminated advertisements at night and the closing of doors for air-conditioned businesses. The Medef wants to be receptive. “Companies, Madam Prime Minister, will do their part to achieve energy sobriety”, promised Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux at the opening of this Meeting of French Entrepreneurs. But for certain sectors of activity, a lower consumption of hydrocarbons corresponds directly to a loss of productivity. Since energy is needed to produce, the industry faces a dilemma. “Let’s avoid symbolic, media measures, whose carbon impact is zero or in any case very low, and which points to each other”, also asked the president of Medef, referring to golf courses or private jets.

These symbolic acts in favor of sobriety were at the heart of the discussions of the summer. The members of EELV, their president Julien Bayou at the head, have indeed put these subjects on the table, while the country was faced with an exceptional drought. During the party’s summer universities, some, like Sandrine Rousseau, forcefully reaffirmed these positions. Others, like Yannick Jadot, have called for caution against being too radical. A confirmation of the two lines that make up the party.

Will the government deviate from its liberal line to tax the super profits of big business?

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