Tajani spars with League over bank-surplus-profit tax

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 13 - Deputy Premier, Foreign Minister and Forza Italia leader Antonio Tajani on Sunday ruled out the hypothesis of bringing in a tax on banks' surplus profits just hours after a senior member of the League, which is also part of the coalition supporting Premier Giorgia Meloni's government, called for precisely that.
    "There will never be taxes on the surplus profits of the banks with us," Tajani told a Forza Italia conference in Perugia.
    "The taxation of extra profits is not envisaged in the government's plans".
    Earlier on Sunday, League Deputy Secretary Andrea Crippa told Affaritaliani.it that it would be "fair and equitable" for Italy's banks to "contribute to redistribute wealth and favour not only the less affluent classes of the country but economic growth too".
    He said that over the last two years the top seven Italian credit institutions have almost doubled their profits due to "the unjustified, insane rise in interest rates by the ECB".
    Crippa also referred to a call made last week by League leader, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini to "make the bankers pay, not the workers". (ANSA).