“If I am penalized because I have to pay a special tax, what are my competitors doing?” Asked Rodolphe Saadé, facing the deputies, on Tuesday.
New round of hearings in the National Assembly on superprofits. This Tuesday, before the deputies of the flash mission on corporate taxation, the boss of the tricolor giant CMA-CGM spoke, a few days after his counterparts from the Engie and TotalEnergies groups.
If he said he was open to discussions on additional efforts for household purchasing power and “not against taxIn general, Rodolphe Saadé warned elected officials against the harmful effects of a tax on “superprofits“, advancing two arguments. First of all, “introduce a French surcharge“Would weaken the competitiveness of French companies, against competitors, particularly Asian ones, who would not be concerned, he argued. “If I am penalized because I have to pay a special tax, what do my competitors do? There is no reason for me to be the only one, if a tax must be recorded. We must be fair with CMA-CGM“, hammered the CEO.
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In addition, the large profits made by the operator are reinvested, at “90%“, in the company, the rest being returned to the shareholders, detailed Rodolphe Saadé. However, taxing profits amounts to limiting the group’s investment margin, while huge sums must be put on the table to prepare for CMA-CGM’s energy transition. A tax onsuperprofits“would weaken the future, argued the leader, “in a crucial sector for the economy and the sovereignty of our country».
Rather than a purely French tax, the businessman therefore pleaded for a tax to be global, otherwise French companies, including CMA-CGM, would be disadvantaged. Otherwise, the tax should be at least European, or Brussels could decide to review the tonnage tax, which makes it possible to tax not the profits, but rather the capacities deployed, and also affects Asian competition going to the ports of the continent. . “I don’t want to have different tools from my competitors“, he insisted, adding that his group planned to invest, this year, 18 billion dollars.
The businessman’s opposition to a French tax on “superprofitshas been known for a long time. “France is the only country to want to tax shipowners. This tax would be an advantage given to my competitors“, he denounced already in July, in our columns. Before him, facing the deputies, the boss of TotalEnergies had also issued a warning: “Our country suffers from deindustrialization […]. Everything you do in Parliament is listened to by all investors“, launched Patrick Pouyanné, stressing that “signals that would be unfavorableto investment would risk limiting the attractiveness of nations.
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“Efforts” already made
Despite record profits recorded since the beginning of the year by his company, Rodolphe Saadé was cautious, recalling that freight rates, until recently set at 13,000 dollars per 40-foot container between China and Europe , collapsed. “For the past two months, we have observed a reversal in the market“, he noted, emphasizing the aspect “cyclicof his activity. The leader also defended his company, singled out for the “superprofits» made thanks to the rise in prices: CMA-CGM has «does a lot to help the purchasing power of the French“, he argued.
Last action to date, last July, CMA-CGM had announced a reduction of 750 euros in the freight rate per 40-foot container, “for all imports from Asia of all its customers in France“. A position that no competitor has followed, said Rodolphe Saadé. “I do it when I can. I already do a lot“, he estimated. If the shipowner hoped that this drop would be perceptible on the “price of products intended for end consumers“, its CEO was skeptical of the deputies. “How to share this envelope of 750 euros? It is up to the State to do what is necessary to ensure that these 750 euros reach the end consumer“, he replied, when asked about the prices in Reunion.
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