Status: 01/10/2023 3:11 p.m
High energy prices have recently brought enormous profits to the oil and gas companies. They are to be skimmed off with an excess profit tax. But how high the income will be is completely unclear.
The annual tax law was passed in December last year. Part of it: an excess profit tax for energy companies to absorb random profits in the electricity sector. These companies will have to pay 33 percent tax for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023 on profits that have increased the average profit by 20 percent compared to previous years.
But how high will this income be, with which the electricity price brake for consumers is to be financed? So far this is still completely unclear. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Economics to the left-wing MP Christian Görke. The “SPIEGEL” reported about it first.
“Estimates are not available”
In the ministry’s response of January 3, the tagesschau.de is available, it is said that the electricity price brake law determines the determination of excess profits, “however, the law does not make any direct statements about their amount”. In addition: “Estimates of the excess revenue in December 2022 are not yet available to the federal government.” And that despite the fact that December was the only month last year in which the levy took effect, according to the Federal Ministry of Economics.
The left-wing politician Görke describes the missing information as “highly explosive”: “The federal government has obviously made no calculations – not even estimates – on the possible occurrence of Habeck’s revenue cap at the electricity companies.”
In view of the sums that are likely to run into the billions of euros, this is exactly what is urgently needed: “So the electricity companies are just getting away with the fat profits of the last few months – and the federal government doesn’t even know how much that is! That is not Bundesliga, but at best district league level,” said Görke in a reaction that tagesschau.de present.
Partly 40 percent higher profits
Discussion of an excess profits tax arose after some energy companies made huge profits as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition, a study by the ifo Institute revealed that companies in certain sectors of the economy – primarily the energy sector – used the price increases to expand their profits.
For example, the French oil and energy company TotalEnergies was able to increase its profits by more than 40 percent in the third quarter of last year thanks to high oil and gas prices. Europe’s largest oil company Shell also continued to earn brilliantly between July and September 2022 with around 9.5 billion dollars.