Budget: Macron approves “exceptional” taxation for large businesses, but “limited”

Emmanuel Macron estimated on Wednesday that an “exceptional tax on companies”, as announced by the government of Michel Barnier, was “well understood by large companies” but that it should be “limited”. Faced with France’s degraded public finances, “the solution must not be a short-term adjustment by cutting social spending (…) nor overtaxing because we do not have much room for fiscal maneuver”, estimated the president during a forum in Berlin, the day after the French Prime Minister’s general policy declaration.

“Not much room for maneuver in terms of taxation”

Michel Barnier announced on Tuesday that participation would be requested from “large companies which make significant profits” and from “the wealthiest French people”, in the name of “tax justice”. The goal is to gradually reduce France’s debt while the deficit risks reaching 6% of GDP this year, far from the 3% set by Brussels.

Emmanuel Macron stressed that France does not have “much room for maneuver in terms of taxation”, being “number one or two in terms of taxation” in Europe. “The top priority of the French economy should be to improve the youth activity rate” and reduce the unemployment rate, he added, believing that in this regard Germany was performing better.

Macron’s action will now be carried out as a priority at the European level

The president, whose camp lost a majority in France after an electoral defeat, intends to continue to play a role in trying to stimulate competitiveness and growth. But its action will now be carried out primarily at the European level, he said. “For me, the first priority is the European scale,” declared the Head of State during this forum.

“This is where we can unlock a lot of growth and potential,” he argued, saying in particular that he wanted to create “a shock of simplification” in the European Union whose economic dynamism and innovation are hampered. according to him by too many regulations.