Energy giants 'didn't do anything to deserve their superprofits', says Joseph Stiglitz
Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz co-chairs ICRICT with Indian economist Jayati Ghosh, an international think tank that campaigns for greater corporate taxation internationally.
AFP - THOMAS PETER
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
On the one hand, millions of households who do not know how they will pay their gas and electricity bills;
on the other, giants of the sector who have earned billions thanks to the crisis.
Europe is considering taxing these superprofits.
An idea advocated for years by renowned economists, such as the American Joseph Stiglitz, the Burundian Léonce Ndikumana or the French Thomas Piketty, members of the think tank called ICRICT.
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Superprofits need to be
taxed urgently
.
This is the message conveyed by the report presented Friday, September 16 by the members of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT, Independent Commission for the Reform of the Taxation of Multinationals).
Especially for developing countries, says Indian economist Jayati Ghosh, co-president of ICRICT.
“
We recommend that governments in least developed countries use their own strategies to increase their revenues,
” she explains.
Just like Europe is doing.
They can achieve this by other means such as the tax on services, the digital tax or the tax at source, without forgetting the tax on wealth.
»
“
Their profits, they owe them to Putin
”
The giants of the energy sector “
have done nothing to deserve their superprofits
”, affirms the Nobel Prize in economics, Joseph Stiglitz, who also chairs this club of committed economists.
“
These are windfall profits.
These groups did not work hard for it.
Their profits, they owe them to Putin,
he underlines.
It is he who should reap the benefits, and not the leaders of these large groups.
»
Last Wednesday, the European Commission proposed a tax on large energy groups, which could bring in up to 140 billion euros.
An idea which must be discussed in the coming days by the Member States of the Union.
► Also to listen: [Discussion of the day] Should superprofits be taxed?
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