During the pandemic, many countries in the Old Continent introduced taxes on so-called large businesses. “the benefits that fell from the sky“, with the aim of balancing tax collection through the tax on these colossi, belonging to sectors such as energy, which achieved extraordinary profits during this period. Subsequently, the Moncloa continued in this direction and has implemented, in 2023, a temporary tax for large fortunes. The trend has spread to the Old Continent since France is also developing a similar temporary tax, while in Italy we are working to establish one. tax on companies that have posted extraordinary profits during recent years of economic ups and downs.
The Italian government plans to raise taxes on companies that have made the most profits in recent years in a bid to reduce the budget deficit. This was underlined by the Minister of the Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti recently, who also assured that he was looking for possible privileges that best suit these companies. The idea, which involves a transversal application to different sectors of the economy, caused great concern on the Italian stock market, which fell by more than 1.50%, with Stellantis, Sapem and FinecoBank leading the declines by losing more than 3%, in a session also marked by violence in the Middle East.
Giorgetti’s statements, made in conversations with Bloomberg, come a year after he tried to impose an extraordinary tax on banks, which sparked fear in transalpine stock markets, triggering sales and generating significant stock market falls. However, Rome wants to balance its budget deficit, and Giorgetti is back on trackusing language that seeks, on the one hand, to win victory in front of citizens and, on the other hand, to avoid a furious reaction from big transalpine businessmen. Thus, the minister assured that the government would approve “accounts which will require sacrifices from everyone, both individuals and medium, small and large businesses.
Furthermore, Giorgetti justified his intentions by asserting that the Constitution recognizes in its article 53 that “Everyone must contribute to the public accounts according to their contributory capacity.“When the country is called upon to make an effort, we on our part will cut many expenses and try to save and be efficient, but we will also invite those who can do their part, as the Constitution says. “This does not mean taxing additional profits but rather doing it more equitably,” he said. Furthermore, other reports suggest that Rome is ready to increase special indirect taxes on fuel to put gasoline on par with diesel.
The Minister of Caution specifically targeted companies that took advantage of the heat of the crisis. high interest ratesveiledly designating banks, indicating that these companies must make a greater contribution to public coffers. With this movement, Italy joins a shift taking shape in Western Europe that focuses on increasing taxes for those who have the most. In this sense, Emmanuel Macron recently showed his support for taxes.temporary” on large companies, although he indicated that this should be limited in nature.
These statements come in a context where the government led by conservative Michel Barnier is preparing budgets for next year. The minister responsible for this task, Laurent Saint-Martin, specified that this rate would be applied to income who pay taxes of more than 500,000 euros per year, or 65,000 people on French soil, or 0.3% of the 20 millions of French taxpayers. .who pay income tax. On the other hand, this measure comes after their application significant tax cuts between 2018 and 2023 which prevented French public coffers from collecting 62 billion euros, according to the Court of Auditors of France in a report published in July 2024.
