German Coalition Split on Taxing Energy Firms’ Windfall Profits

The German government is split over whether it should impose a tax on the windfall profits from energy firms as a way to mitigate rising costs for consumers and companies.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck, a member of the Green Party and the vice chancellor in the ruling coalition, was supportive, saying on Wednesday that the “siphoning off of excess profits” is “still an important issue” and is “on the agenda” along with the idea of an import levy or a price cap.

However, he cautioned that it’s a complicated process to implement such measures and potentially problematic targeting individual ...