Large French companies benefit proportionally more from tax credits than smaller companies, says the Council of Compulsory Levies (CPO) in a study published on Tuesday.
Large companies liable for corporation tax (IS) all benefited in 2019 from at least one tax credit compared to 61% of intermediate-sized companies (ETI), 30% of small and medium-sized companies and only 8% of microenterprises, details this institution placed with the Court of Auditors.
Another observation of the members of the CPO, large companies received 42% of tax credits in 2019, while they were only liable for 38% of gross corporate tax. The proportion of tax credits from which ETIs and SMEs benefited was close to their contribution to corporation tax, they continue. On the other hand, the micro-enterprises which were liable for 16% of the gross corporate tax only received 9% of the tax credits.
Unstable tax rate
In its study carried out at the request of the Finance Committee of the Assembly chaired by the deputy LFI Eric Coquerel, which is preparing a report on the tax differentials between companies, the CPO also notes the instability of the effective tax rate for companies (the one corresponding to the taxes actually paid).
Between 2009 and 2022, the range of variation in the average effective tax rate for large companies represents 12.4 points in France. The unweighted average for the euro zone is 4.9 points, compared to the institution. Only Greece has experienced greater instability, the authors of the study are alarmed.
65% margins in real estate, 21% in construction
While some big companies have been singled out by opposition MPs in recent months for their superprofits, the CPO says the margin rate depends more on the sector of activity than on the size of the company.
Based on 2019 data, which predates the recent debates on superprofits, the CPO estimates the average margin rate at 65% in real estate, 30% in industry, 28% in services, 24% in services (excluding real estate) and transport and only 21% in construction.
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