Labour is calling for a windfall tax on supermarkets’ mega profits to help consumers during the cost of living crisis because they believe “price gouging” is rampant.
The main supermarkets operating here keep their profitability numbers close to their chests, but it is believed that they are pulling in hundreds of millions a year from Irish consumers.
Labour’s finance spokesman, Ged Nash, believes the “profiteering supermarkets” should be targeted with extra taxes to assist households who are struggling to make ends meet as grocery prices have soared due to spiralling inflation over the past year.
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He said: “It’s interesting how they tend to conceal their profits like the Third Secret of Fatima, they won’t reveal them.”
The same model has already been agreed by the Government to raise more money to help with cost of living supports to defray high energy costs by taxing excess profits of energy companies.
Food inflation is currently at 16.6% according to the CSO (Central Statistics Office), more than twice the rate of general inflation, 7.2%, across the rest of the economy.
However, there have been some moves in recent days from the supermarket multiples to reduce prices of some staples, with small across the board cuts on bread, butter and milk.
Mr Nash told RTE’s Morning Ireland yesterday (THURS): “There are 677,000 people in this country, in this very rich country, that are actually living below the poverty line… that’s completely unconscionable.”
The Louth TD added: “My view is, we should treat them (the supermarket multiples) the same as energy companies, if profiteering is proven, we should slap windfall taxes on the big supermarket players.”
Mr Nash was not impressed with the latest small price cuts on bread and other staples.
He described the moves as: “a PR exercise, merely spin to take the heat off of them and to throw a small bone to the minister and the Government".
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