Since the outbreak of the Iran conflict, gasoline prices have spiked to exorbitant levels. In response, Bremen’s Minister‑President Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) is calling for a super‑profit tax on oil companies that raised petrol and diesel prices shortly after the war began, arguing that they have widened their margins at motorists’ expense.
“Seeing how quickly the oil majors increased prices already, it raises the suspicion that they are exploiting the conflict to fill their pockets” Bovenschulte told the newspaper “Welt”. “What we need now is a fuel‑price clamp‑down, but not at taxpayers’ cost. Instead we must hold those taking advantage of the crisis accountable through competition‑law and tax measures. A super‑profit tax could serve that purpose well”.
He plans to raise the issue at this Thursday’s meeting of the 16 German state leaders in Berlin.
