Bank tax: Brunner declines, Greens more offensive

Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (VP) rejects the introduction of a new bank tax. That is currently not planned, he said on Wednesday in Ö1.

The coalition partner is more offensive. The Green Club informed the OÖNachrichten: “Should this development continue, it will also be in the interest of the Ministry of Finance to have checked and prepared measures in good time that can counteract this imbalance.” The imbalance from the point of view of the Greens: rising interest rates on loans, low interest rates on savings, high bank profits.

Brunner referred to discussions with the banks regarding transparency and customer friendliness. One must see how the banks could improve the situation. The Liberals are demanding an “excess profit tax” because of the “massive imbalance in debit and credit interest rates,” as party leader Herbert Kickl said.

The trigger for the discussion is Italy, which, as reported, has introduced an excess profits tax. The surprising decision had crashed stock prices of Italian banks. The government has therefore now provided the special tax with an upper limit. The Ministry of Finance announced that the revenue should not exceed 0.1 percent of the balance sheet total.

In view of the floods in southern Austria, the topic of disaster insurance was also debated in Austria on Wednesday. Catastrophic damage is difficult to insure, mainly due to the high premiums required. However, insurance against natural hazards could become affordable if legal regulations allowed for a large spread of risk, said the General Secretary of the Insurance Association, Christian Eltner. If there were comprehensive catastrophe insurance, there would be a “correspondingly large number of insured risks”. Eltner referred to the fire insurance that works in a similar way. The policy is required.

Finance Minister Brunner waved it off. The responsible ministries would not implement nationwide disaster insurance. Brunner referred to the existing disaster fund. The Chamber of Labor also spoke out against it due to the high costs.