Spain Slaps New Tax on Banks to Help Ease Price-Crunch Pain (1)

Spain will impose new taxes on large banks and energy companies, wresting billions of euros from business to fund policies to ease the impact of record inflation on consumers.

The levies on both financial institutions and energy firms will last for two years. The government expects the former to raise about 1.5 billion euros ($1.5 billion) per year, while the windfall tax on energy firms, which have benefited from surging prices, will collect 2 billion euros a year.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s announcement of the new financial tax sent shares in banks such as Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA ...