The Spanish Government is studying options to reformulate the levy on the extraordinary income of large energy companies. The third vice-president, Teresa Ribera, confirmed yesterday from the Dubai climate conference, the COP28, that, in the absence of the so-called profits that fell from the sky of these companies as a result of the increase in prices, the tax figure in force it wouldn’t make sense.
The economic area of ??the Executive is working on a redesign of the lien liquidated by companies such as Iberdrola, Repsol, Naturgy, Endesa and Cepsa, among others. “It is important to determine whether or not these extraordinary benefits that were trying to be identified in this figure continue to exist”, said the Minister for the Ecological Transition yesterday. “Regular taxation can be corrected and modulated, but we are no longer talking about extraordinary benefits, we are talking about something else,” he added in statements to the Efe agency.
The philosophy with which the government economic team works in the reformulation of this levy aims to value that energy companies reinvest part of the profits to accelerate the energy transition. This has been one of the recurrent arguments of the large companies affected, which appealed against the levy before the National Court. In this sense, Ribera pointed out that in the redesign of the tax it could be assessed how energy companies maintain or increase green investments.
On Sunday, the third vice-president already advanced in an interview granted to Colpisaque “a very sensitive balance must be struck” and “guarantee equity in the contribution of these companies to the budget and, at the same time, that they have the capacity to reinvest” in green projects .
The extraordinary levy on energy companies has been surrounded by strong political and business controversy since it was born, as has also been the case for banking. In October, Repsol decided to take a step further.
The energy industry warned that the “lack of regulatory and fiscal stability” conditions its future industrial projects in Spain. A warning that referred to one of the points of the coalition agreement between the PSOE and Sumar, in which both formations committed to “readjust” and “maintain” the fiscal figure beyond 2024.
“The possibility of maintaining a levy on energy companies, which was conceived as temporary and extraordinary, punishes companies that, like Repsol, invest in industrial assets, create employment and guarantee the energy independence of the country. On the other hand, it favors importers who do not create employment or relevant economic activity in Spain”, emphasized the company with headquarters in Méndez Álvaro, in Madrid.
The PNB, a key partner during this legislature, also made reference on Sunday to the extraordinary tax on energy, through the president of the EBB, Andoni Ortuzar, who described the current formulation of the tax as “damaged goods”.
Ribera confirmed yesterday that he is working, together with the Treasury, on a rethinking of the lien. “We are analyzing what are the factual references, what are the needs and what is the best way technically to solve this issue”, he pointed out.
The extraordinary energy tax levies a 1.2% tax on the sales of companies in the sector with an annual income of more than 1,000 million. It is in force in 2023 and 2024, although it applies to the income statements of 2022 and 2023. Between the two payments already settled, the Tax Agency collected 1,644 million. Revenue estimates were 2,000 million. Treasury expects to improve these figures this year because business profits are higher.
