"We hope that this procedure will create a balance of power" with the presidential majority, insisted the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure, stressing that the Nupes was "not a fetishist" of the RIP.

According to him, the only objective of the Nupes (LFI, PS, PCF and EELV), regardless of the means, is to tax, as other European countries already do, the "superprofits" of "large companies", "mainly multinationals" with a turnover of more than 750 million euros, all sectors combined.

Are targeted: the oil group TotalEnergies which underlined in the morning that it should pay 30 billion dollars in taxes and duties in the world in 2022, the pharmaceutical Sanofi and the shipowner CMA CGM, in sectors where “exceptional profits, decorrelated from any innovation, productivity gain or internal strategic decision within the company”, according to Nupes.

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In a period of exploding energy prices and high cost of living, against a backdrop of war in Ukraine, this debate on "superprofits" will punctuate budgetary discussions throughout the autumn in Parliament, as this summer during the examination of the purchasing power package.

The Nupes tax would apply to companies whose taxable income is at least 1.25 times higher than the average result for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, with a progressive tax scale of 20% to 33% of "superprofits", applied until the end of 2025.

A long process begins.

Signed by 240 parliamentarians, this bill must first obtain the approval of the Constitutional Council, within a month.

In the event of a green light, the left-wing coalition will have nine months to collect the nearly five million citizen signatures needed to trigger a referendum.

In 2019 and 2020, a previous RIP proposal, against the privatization of Aéroports de Paris, had collected 1.1 million supporters, far from the threshold.

Privatization had ultimately failed.

"Political Marker"

But this project serves above all to reclaim this tax with strong symbolic value.

A "flash" parliamentary mission is currently working on the issue.

She heard the head of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné on Wednesday morning and will report her conclusions around October 5 or 6.

For the Macronist rapporteur David Amiel (Renaissance), the tax is "neither a totem nor a taboo" but "not the miracle solution".

He favors a “European” measure, to avoid tax competition between EU countries, actions that companies can make directly such as Total’s fuel rebate or their investments in ecological transition.

The European Commission wants "a contribution" from producers and distributors of gas, coal and oil and would like to cap the income of producers of electricity from nuclear and renewables, which reap exceptional profits.

Not enough to convince the other rebellious rapporteur Manuel Bompard "very doubtful": "Why not set up a French tax in the meantime?", He pleads, citing the British or Italian devices.

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The Nupes considers this tax as a strong "political marker" of the new five-year term and a "unifying element" of its camp.

But the National Rally also positions itself on the subject, like the deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy, very offensive during a hearing of the boss of Shell France, Vincent Baril.

The far-right elected official considers that the "timing" of the RIP "is not right - the fiscal year will be over, it will be very complicated -" and he criticizes the left for its "sectarianism" when it refuses to vote for the amendments RN on the subject.

On the right, Véronique Louwagie (LR) is cautiously awaiting the conclusions of the parliamentary mission and recalls being usually "unfavorable to new taxes".

She is skeptical about a European tax, because "not sure of its effect on the purchasing power of the French".

In government, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne assured not "to close the door".

But the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire has repeatedly fought a French tax, in the name of competitiveness.

"I don't know what a superprofit is", he even launched in front of the Medef.

La Nupes replied to him on Wednesday that his text was there "to make him understand".

© 2022 AFP