PM and President in favour of tax on energy companies

Folowing similar words stated by members of the ruling coalition government, Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Saturday expressed himself in favour of the Czech Republic adopting an energy sector tax, that would be mainly aimed at energy companies. Mr Fiala said that it would be an expression of solidarity at a time when many people are facing extremely high energy prices, Czech Television reports.

The public broadcaster reported last week that most government parties are in favour of implementing a special tax on energy companies, which are currently seeing a massive rise in profits amid the energy crisis. A proposal by the Pirate Party, which could be put into place either in October 2022 or January next year, expects the implementation of a 25 percent income tax on the relevant parties. The party expects that this could add between CZK 10 billion to CZK 20 billion into the treasury, Czech Television reports.

Speaking to CNN Prima News on Sunday, President Miloš Zeman said he is sympathetic to the idea. He also said that he doesn’t think that the government is doing enough to help alleviate inflation pressures on the population.