Can it be right that the federal, state and local governments have to spend tens of billions of euros to support those who are suffering from the high energy prices and other consequences of the Ukraine war, while at the same time some companies are really struggling because of the high energy prices checkout?
Can it be true that many citizens no longer know how to pay for their supermarket purchases at the end of the month because of rising prices, while the oil companies are posting one record profit after the other?
To ask the question is to deny it. The financing of the gas surcharge has brought the problem to the point again in the past few days. Because you and I, if we heat or cook with gas, like all other gas customers, we have to save energy companies in the coming months with the gas levy that have gotten into trouble because of the exploding prices. Because months ago they promised their customers a price that they can no longer keep today and because otherwise many municipal utilities would find themselves in existential difficulties.
But if, in the interest of the common good, we save those who are in need, then in the interest of the common good we can skim off part of the profits that others have made through no fault of their own. Winnings that you didn’t expect yourself, that don’t appear in any calculations – just random wins or excess wins.
Critics say that such an excess profit tax is too complicated, incompatible with the principles of the market economy, arbitrary and a threat to confidence in the German tax system. I think it’s all pretense. But one after anonther.
Yes, distinguishing excess profit from normal profit is difficult from an economic and tax point of view. But in view of the regulations in the German tax system, which are otherwise not simple either, no one can seriously claim that the problem cannot be solved, given the appropriate political will. Greece, Italy, Spain, Great Britain and other countries are showing us how. Why shouldn’t that work for us?
But isn’t an excess profit tax a violation of the principles of the market economy? If you start from the pure teaching maybe. But, asked the other way around, is the gas surcharge a prime example of a market economy? A compulsory levy for all gas customers to save companies from the consequences of decisions they have made themselves?
One suspects that the argument with the market economy only comes up where it suits the critics of the excess profit tax.
Third argument: It is arbitrary if excess profits are only skimmed off in one industry, specifically in the energy sector. Here, too, a look at the gas levy helps to refute the argument. After all, this is also limited to a single industry. We don’t have a bakery fee, no furniture fee and no car fee. Compensating for energy losses and skimming off energy gains – these are two sides of the same coin.
And finally, it is argued against the excess profit tax that it would endanger confidence in the German tax system, especially if it were also levied retrospectively. However, this argument is useless where the companies themselves did not reckon with the profits that the energy price increases have flushed into their pockets. They didn’t appear in any economic plan, they weren’t part of any calculation.
But it doesn’t matter whether you are more or less convinced of my arguments. It is indisputable: we have an objective problem and we need a solution for it. Because many people are now seriously worried about whether they can still afford the warm living room in winter. Gas and electricity have been getting more and more expensive for weeks, so the hefty increase in the advance payment to the public utility company is a real challenge.
And now the gas allocation is on top of that. Incidentally, many craftsmen are no different. I know master bakers who have successfully run their business for many years and even survived Corona, but now have real existential worries.
We will have to help these craftsmen in the coming months so that they can survive the gas crisis. Just like all people with low and medium incomes, including families, single parents, students and pensioners. The temporary reduction in VAT on gas decided on Thursday is a step in the right direction. But I am convinced that this is not enough.
I therefore continue to plead for a second energy price flat rate of at least 300 euros before the end of this year. This time, by the way, for everyone, including children, students and pensioners.
One question remains: How should the state pay for this urgently needed support? The FDP does not want tax increases, nor does it want new debts. But there will hardly be enough money in the general budget for this. For me, it just makes sense to skim off the excess profits, i.e. the profits that not a single company expected six months ago.
Yes, tax increases are not part of the coalition agreement, as Finance Minister Christian Lindner never tires of emphasizing. But are they excluded once and for all in this existential crisis? The fact that Vladimir Putin is invading Ukraine, that he is turning off the gas tap in Europe, that gas and electricity prices are climbing to unprecedented levels, that small and medium-sized companies in particular fear for their very existence – none of this was in the coalition agreement. But we have to find a solution for this now.
Corona has taught me one thing: whether we can overcome a crisis together depends very much on whether we share the burden fairly. This is the only way we can maintain a climate of social cohesion in which not everyone only thinks of themselves, but in which problem-solving in solidarity is the focus. An excess profit tax would be a component of such a fair distribution of burdens. So that after the Corona crisis we can also overcome the gas crisis in Germany together.
