Taxation of TotalEnergies’ excess profits: Belgium would be one of the main beneficiaries in Europe
TotalEnergies estimates at one billion euros the amount of the new European solidarity contribution on the profits of energy groups that it would have to pay in six countries of the European Union, including Belgium, in 2022 if it were implemented everywhere.
“We estimate the effect of the European solidarity tax at one billion euros” in 2022, said the group’s financial director Jean-Pierre Sbraire during a meeting with analysts after the publication of the group’s results for the 3rd quarter.
“We will be affected by this European solidarity tax in six countries in Europe: France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, mainly on our refining activities, as well as the Netherlands and Denmark” for exploration and production activities, the official said.
While the debate on the “superprofits” of oil and gas companies is in full swing in Europe, the European Commission indicated at the end of September that it wanted to demand a “temporary solidarity contribution” to the producers and distributors of gas, coal and oil who are making massive profits thanks to the surge in prices following the war in Ukraine.
It must be set at 33% of the share of the superprofits of 2022, i.e. profits more than 20% higher than the average for the years 2019-21, while taking into account the measures taken by the States taxing these benefits already. The Commission took care not to use the word “tax” because any new tax provision at European level would have required the unanimity of the Twenty-Seven, a more complicated and risky procedure than adoption by qualified majority.
According to economist Maxime Combes of the Observatoire des multinationales, Belgium and Germany would be the “main beneficiaries” the European tax paid by TotalEnergies (between 256 and 409 million euros for Belgium, and between 135 and 216 million euros for Germany).