Six New Taxes Introduced in France in the Past Year

Six new taxes have been introduced in France in the past year, with new taxes currently under discussion. In the main they are marginal taxes, unlikely to make a big dent in the household budget but they do provide an interesting insight into the psyche of French bureaucrats and politicians, who seem to have an instinctive propensity to propose a new tax whenever new objectives are announced. The idea that the general system of taxation should be used to achieve policy objectives seems a far too obvious solution. In order to make them more palatable to the French public, a number of these new taxes have been promoted as ‘environmental’ taxes, although their positive impact on the environment is by no means clear. One such case is that of the 'fish tax', a tax of 2% on the sale of all fish, introduced in 2007 in response to protests by French fishermen against the rising price of fuel. The tax produces around €70m a year, none of which goes to preserving or developing fish stocks. A similar tax has been the tax imposed on the super-profits of the petrol companies, which is being used to pay for a fuel rebate for low-income households using oil based heating. The tax raises around €150m a year, only around half of which goes towards individual fuel grants of €150 a year, with the rest going straight into the general coffers of the French Treasury. Another tax that can be more genuinely claim to have 'green' objectives is that of the new carbon tax on high polluting vehicles, with a tax credit to the more virtuous who buy a car with low CO2 emissions. This tax is in addition to the vehicle registration tax the Government introduced in 2006 for high polluting vehicles, a tax that was modest in the level of the imposition and, consequently, in its impact. Although not a carbon tax as such, the Government have also introduced a tax on airline tickets, the proceeds of which are being used to fight Aids in the developing world. The tax varies from €1 to €40, depending on the ticket class and destination. To these taxes can also be added a pollution tax, which is imposed upon all non-solicited literature that is sent through the post, and a tax on the award of stock-options, following growing criticism of 'fat-cat' remuneration packages being granted to industry bosses. Other new taxes are also under discussion. As we reported recently in our Newsletter, the Government is proposing to abolish private advertising on French public television channels, and to replace it with a tax on home electrical equipment, internet and mobile telephone providers. There are also discussions taking place about a genuine carbon tax on air travel, and the Minister of Culture has also floated the idea of a new ‘four star’ hotel tax to fund work to historic monuments.

The Government dare not risk increasing the level of direct taxation or social security contributions, so is having to resort to do all sorts of fiscal contortions to raise revenues to deal with problems, and fund its programmes. However, lest it be said that taxes only go up in France, in fact, in the past few years there have been reductions in some mainstream taxes. Thus, during President Chirac's time in power there were reductions in income tax and abolition of the vehicle licence tax. Since President Sarkozy has been in power there have also been reductions in inheritance and wealth taxes. The Government have also made some small efforts to reduce the tax burden on small businesses. Indeed, as we have said before in these pages, arguably, France is actually something of a tax haven for retired expats from the UK.