Grandstand. No one, in good faith, can today deny the gravity and the urgency of the environmental and social challenges of our society, nor refute the heavy constraints which weigh on the State as on the companies in a context of completely open international competition. . The reconciliation of these economic constraints and the urgency to act should be at the heart of public action.
The environmental and social behavior of companies is not neutral. It can have a significant impact on public authorities, which are often forced to develop corrective actions at the cost of considerable expense. It would therefore be legitimate for economic actors to contribute to public costs according to the additional costs that their activity generates for the community.
It would be relevant for the public authorities to seek to prevent rather than having to systematically repair. The State must adopt regulations that distinguish companies that pollute from those that make real efforts in this area, those that relocate or those that create local employment, those that exploit regulatory deviations or those that adopt a strategy responsible tax, etc.
A deeper tax revolution
To achieve this, it has many tools to encourage without constraining, from taxation to public procurement and the aid it grants. Today, corporate tax, based solely on corporate profits, only takes into account the wealth produced. Consequently, whether a company pollutes or seeks, on the contrary, to reduce its negative externalities on its environment, this does not interfere in any way with its tax treatment.
However, it is now accepted that the legislator can use “Taxation as a means of encouraging taxpayers to adopt behaviors consistent with objectives of general interest”. This evolution of tax doctrine, and in particular of constitutional case law, opens the way to a more profound revolution in taxation.
With the implementation of the environmental taxonomy on a European scale, companies will soon have to publish the “sustainable” part of their turnover. Let’s integrate this sustainable part into the calculation of corporation tax, without changing its basis on the amount of profits.
Strengthen the coherence of the State
It would then be possible to define three bands of modulation of the normal tax rate (increased, neutral, reduced) depending on whether this part is considered insufficient, perfectible or exemplary. This will make it possible to influence brown activities, to support activities in transition, to encourage green activities.
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