France wants to make one-off wealth tax permanent

PARIS: France´s economy minister said on Sunday he wants to make what was initially announced as a temporary tax on the wealthy into a permanent levy to make government financing “more equitable”.

Eric Lombard said he wanted tens of thousands of French high earners to have to pay more each year as the country battles a debt mountain that has worried markets and ratings agencies.

Individuls earning more than 250,000 euros ($285,000) a year and couples with a joint income of more than 500,000 euros will this year pay a minimum 20 percent income tax.

The government said last year that the special “contribution” would be temporary. But Lombard told France´s BFMTV on Sunday: “I hope that this contribution will be lasting”, adding that it had brought in two billion euros ($2.27 billion) for 2024.

His ministry had started work to “verify that the mechanisms which allow the reduction” of taxes for the wealthiest “work in a more equitable manner”, he added.

But a special tax on major companies that brought in eight billion euros would not be repeated, said Lombard. “On the other hand, the two billion contribution from the high-revenue earners... we want to work on this, either maintain it or improve it,” he said.

It was “a question of financial resources -- two billion is a lot -- and a question of fairness. We are asking a big effort from everyone,” said the minister, who insisted it would only be a tax on revenues. Lombard´s office told AFP that the aim of the new measure would be “to combat tax over-optimization”.