What a mess: The government is lowering taxes on petrol and diesel so that people can finally refuel at affordable prices and then this: the petrol isn’t getting any cheaper.
It went down a bit at first, but now prices are back to where they were before. A liter of petrol and diesel again costs more than two euros.
Drivers are angry, politicians feel they have been ripped off by the big oil companies and are considering punishment. An excess profit tax should not only teach crisis profiteers like the oil multinationals manners, but also flush tax revenue into the coffers, which is needed for further relief packages in favor of inflation-stricken citizens.
The idea sounds great. But the problems are in the details. How do you calculate the amount of such a tax with legal certainty? How do you make sure you meet the right people? Crisis winners and crisis winners are not the same.
What about the vaccine pioneers from Biontech in the corona crisis? What about companies that secured raw materials early on at cheaper prices than others? And how do you ensure that international corporations actually pay the tax? A tip: Instead of thinking about punitive taxes afterwards, politicians should do their research beforehand and refrain from nonsensical relief packages.
