2023-08-09 12:03:36
While a bank tax is being introduced in Italy as a reaction to the high profits of financial institutions, Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) sees no current need in this country. That “is not currently planned,” he said on Wednesday in the “Ö1-Mittagsjournal”.
He referred to the measures taken by the banks to improve customer friendliness and transparency, and there are ongoing discussions to expand this further. One must see how the banks might improve the current situation, said the minister.
Yesterday, Tuesday, the FPÖ called for an “excess profit tax” for the banks, citing the “massive imbalance in debit and credit interest rates” as the reason. “The European Central Bank is increasing the key interest rate at ever faster paces, which is now already at 4.25 percent. This has made it impossible for many credit customers to repay their construction or housing loans. Austria’s banks, however, are making record profits one following the other. The savers However, due to the minimal credit interest, we get virtually nothing,” explained FPÖ party chairman Herbert Kickl and the Liberal budget and finance spokesman Hubert Fuchs.
Here an imbalance has occurred to the detriment of savers and borrowers, which needs to be corrected. Following the Italian model, the money collected in this way might be paid out to people “who can no longer afford a roof over their heads”. “ÖVP and the Greens must finally get out of their comfort zone and their large corporation clientelism,” demanded Kickl and Fuchs.
The Italian government announced yesterday that it would levy a 40 percent tax on banks’ “excess profits”. By the end of the year, more than two billion euros are to be flushed into the national budget. The proceeds will be used to support mortgage borrowers and reduce levies.
The Milan Stock Exchange reacted with severe turbulence to the surprising decision by the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, following which the government set an upper limit. The revenue from the tax would not exceed 0.1 percent of the institute’s total assets.
Other European countries such as Spain and Hungary have already introduced special taxes for banks.
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