In the past, only random profit was skimmed off if it was 20 percent above the average profit of previous years, but in future it should be set at 10 percent. “It must not be that profits are privatized while losses are nationalized,” Chancellor Nehammer was quoted as saying in a media release. Details are to be announced in the coming days.
“Energy companies profit from the crisis are unacceptable, while customers are bombarded with horrendous bills. Both private households and companies are suffering massively from this development,” Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) justified this decision. As a result, lower prices should also reach the end customer. Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) adds: “There are chance profits mainly because of Putin’s brutal war of aggression. Every child understands that this war dividend is unfair and makes many people angry.”
With the “energy crisis contribution” for fossil fuels decided at the end of last year, the crisis-related profits of oil and gas companies are taxed. It was already decided in May of this year to tighten profit skimming for electricity companies, and now fossil energy suppliers are also to be tightened up. Kogler emphasized that the period of validity and the tax rate go much further than the EU stipulates in its emergency regulation. At the same time, the incentives to invest in renewable energies would remain.
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