“Paradoxically, we could say today that with all these wars, companies that produce weapons are doing particularly well,” he declared at the beginning of October.

Ultimately, this provision was not included in this year’s budget, and even Cramer, the socialist MEP, acknowledged that “taxing profits should generally only be a last resort.” But Giorgetti touched a nerve.

It’s also a problem in the United States, where Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has denounced arms makers who use their windfall profits to drive up stock prices through stock buybacks. “Overall, many of you are making record profits, as reflected in your quarterly financial statements. » he told defense contractors in February.

“You cannot ask the American taxpayer to make more public investments while you continue to drive up your stock prices through stock buybacks, deferral of promised capital investments, and other accounting maneuvers ” he said.

Although Italy has not yet decided to tax defense companies, there are precedents in this area.

The United States imposed special taxes during the two world wars on the sector.