Vice Chancellor and leader of the Greens Werner Kogler wants to tax the “excess profits” of companies in the energy market. A corresponding model must now be developed. Kogler has not yet predicted how high the income from the tax could be.
“windows” are profits that companies make randomly and without their own effort. They are therefore often perceived as unfair, as is now the case, for example, with energy companies, which earn very well thanks to the high oil, gas and electricity prices. In an interview with the APA, Kogler stated that he understood that this made people angry. Experts have already been tasked with creating a “smart and feasible model”. This must then be presented to the coalition partner ÖVP.
Deducting investments in renewable energy
More specifically, “excess profits” should not be taxed ex post and investments in renewable energy should be deducted from the profit figure. Kogler did not want to predict for the time being how high this income could be. However, he does not think that this would finance a large number of anti-inflation measures such as a reduction in VAT on gas and electricity. The SPÖ had recently demanded that. The vice chancellor does not think much about VAT reductions, because “that costs all taxpayers enormous amounts, but does not deliver anything in a targeted manner.”
Greens ‘act pragmatically in the short term’
In the spring, the coalition with the ÖVP had already decided to appeal for direct aid and payments to the hardest hit. “Other governments have screwed things up. We’re taking him out in terms of dependence on Russian gas,” Kogler said in the APA interview. In the short term, the Greens would act pragmatically, but in the medium term they would be visionary, ‘radically even’. By 2030, electricity will only be allowed from renewable energy sources are achieved.
The fact that due to the energy crisis a coal-fired power station in Austria is now being put back into operation or that nuclear power stations in Germany are getting longer run times is “painful, but from the deepest conviction”. .
The demand for additions from energy companies is not new. EU countries such as Italy are already doing this. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently spoke of “immoral profits” and accused companies of “grotesque greed”.
Source: Krone
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