“Governments should support the income and consumption of households and businesses that suffer the most,” said Philip Lane, Chief Economist of the European Central Bank.
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The idea made its way into the upper economic spheres. The chief economist of the European Central Bank, Philip Lane, suggested in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Dst standardPosted on Tuesday, September 27, taxing high income or super-profits of companies to finance aid to the poorest against inflation, thus avoiding increasing public deficits.
For both macroeconomic and equity reasons, while the energy shock is affecting populations through record inflation, “Governments must support the income and consumption of households and businesses that suffer the most”has declared Philip Lane. “The big question is whether some of this support should be financed by tax increases for the rich.”he continues. “This could take the form of higher taxes for people with higher incomes or for industries and businesses that are highly profitable despite the energy shock.”believe this influential member of the governing board of the monetary institute.
The idea of taxing the richest has already been studied within the euro zone, where the Spanish government wants to introduce a temporary and exceptional tax for the richest 1% of the population, in order to finance the measures put in place to mitigate the impact of runaway inflation. France has not gone that far: the finance bill for 2023 is based on the “tariff shield” to contain the increase in prices. Divided on the question of a superprofit tax, the government is waiting to find a Europe-wide solution.