The Senate’s Industry Committee wants the supplementary tax, part of a package of austerity measures, left unchanged at 6.5 percent, instead of raised by 4 percentage points as the government plans. It also favors the tax’s extension to regulated non-energy companies.
The plan to extend the tax to non-energy companies sent shares in Italian toll operator Atlantia down 4 percent and Telecom Italia down 2.6 percent early in Wednesday’s session.
By contrast the committee’s plan for the tax not to be applied on renewable energy companies, as the government has proposed, sent renewable stocks higher.
In its opinion on the government’s 45.5 billion euros ($65.5 billion) austerity package, the committee said widening the application of the tax at the current rate would raise the same amount of extra taxes the government wants.
The tax rate should stay unchanged “in order not to block investments already planned and those being planned in the energy sector,” it said.
This month the government proposed the Robin Hood tax should be raised and applied to energy network companies Snam Rete Gas and Terna not previously covered by the tax, sending their shares down sharply.
Analysts said the changes to the tax would raise an additional 1 billion euros.
