A Renaissance amendment will propose Thursday to the National Assembly to restore in the draft state budget advantageous tax measures to attract in particular to France the powerful Fifa, the body of world football, a proposal supported by the government then deleted in the Senate .
“I accept this provision,” Renaissance MP Mathieu Lefvre, author of the amendment, explained to AFP. “If we want to have strong sports diplomacy, we must give ourselves the means,” further justified the deputy for Val-de-Marne.
Its amendment, consulted by AFP, must be tabled for the new reading of the finance bill in the Assembly chamber on Thursday, which should quickly lead to a new triggering of 49.3 on the “revenue” part of the text.
The amendment provides for the re-establishment in the text of an exemption from corporate tax, corporate property tax and contribution on the added value of companies, for “their missions of governing sport or promoting the practice Sport”.
It also provides for a tax exemption on the income of employees of international sports federations domiciled in France for five years.
If the amendment never mentions Fifa by name, it is indeed the main body which seems to be targeted by the device.
“It should return to the territory, it was born in France 120 years ago,” believes the deputy, who calls for creating a framework “adhering to international standards” to try to attract this type of body.
A similar amendment was retained by the government on first reading in the Assembly, causing controversy.
The left had denounced a “tax gift too many”. The National Rally “an unacceptable tax gift”.
During the examination of the text in the upper house, the senators deleted the measure.
The delegated minister in charge of public accounts, Thomas Cazenave, then defended a tax provision which “is part of a global strategy” to make France a “sporting nation”, and stressed that this advantage would not concern the “lucrative” activities of FIFA or another federation.
The supreme body of world football opened a Paris branch in June 2021, responsible for relations with federations, technical cooperation in favor of the development of football and also houses a chamber responsible in particular for solidarity mechanisms.
FIFA was founded in Paris in 1904, before moving to Zurich in 1932, which became its headquarters in 2007.