“The situation is serious”: the new Minister of Economy gives details on possible tax increases

Antoine Armand, Minister of the Economy, guest on France Inter this Tuesday, September 24. Capture X @franceinter

Antoine Armand, the new Minister of the Economy, was a guest on France Inter this Tuesday, September 24. He painted a picture of a difficult economic situation and discussed possible tax increases.

The new Minister of the Economy, Antoine Armand, judged on Tuesday that France's public deficit was “one of the worst in (its) history”, wishing to reopen dialogue with social partners with a view to restoring public finances.

“Apart from one or two years of exceptional crisis in the last 50 years, we have one of the worst deficits in our history. So, in this respect, the situation is serious”, declared Mr. Armand on France Inter.

Increase in levies for businesses ?

Concerning a possible increase in levies for certain large companies, which the head of Medef Patrick Martin said he was “ready to discuss” under conditions, the minister replied: “We will work on it with him, with all companies of all sizes, with the social partners of course”, believing that “the dialogue with the social partners must be resumed”.

“We will work to match the seriousness of this situation. (…) My job is to ensure that any levies that may exist do not hinder our growth, do not hinder job creation", he said.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier had mentioned on Sunday "targeted levies on wealthy people, or certain large companies” to help restore public finances, which have deteriorated significantly and are threatened by a new drift in the public deficit this year, after an initial slippage in 2023.

The government must present a draft budget for 2025 in early October, with an unprecedented delay, with the aim of trying to begin to restore public finances.

The middle classes spared

Like the head of government, Antoine Armand repeated that the middle classes would not be affected by a possible increase in taxation.

Asked about a possible freeze on income tax scales, he recalled that “the Prime Minister has said very clearly that we are not going to increase the tax burden on those who work, who belong to the middle class in the broad sense".

"The action that we have been taking for several years, (…) is that work pays. And so those who, to live, have only their income, have only their salary and who have difficulty finding housing, feeding themselves, cannot be (…) penalized", he added.

"People who have very large assets, who sometimes do not pay much tax, (…) we will look at it in the coming weeks (…): can they contribute more in the situation we are experiencing ?".