France remained in second place in 2022 for the weight of production taxes in its GDP, among other comparable European economies, and already in the lead by difference in absolute value, according to the third edition of the Montaigne Institute barometer on this topic. Production taxes weigh on a country’s means of production and are therefore paid primarily by companies.
Last year, this “European barometer of production taxes” found a drop of 0.6 points in the weight of these taxes in French GDP in 2021 compared to 2020, a result of government reforms. But in 2022 it increased again, from 3.8% to 4% of GDP.
Of the other eleven countries studied, only Sweden does more (9.28%), but because it has decided to dedicate the proceeds of these taxes to social protection. In Italy, in third place, this rate is 2.87%, in Germany, in tenth place, 0.75%. The French figure doubles the average of these twelve countries (2%).
In absolute value, France surpasses everyone with 105 billion euros raised in 2022, compared to 29 and 55 billion for Germany and Italy. These figures differ slightly from those of the European statistical institute Eurostat, because they are also based on the approach of the network of tax specialists Mazars Société d’Avocats, present in the twelve countries studied.
The postponement of the end of the CVAE from 2024 to 2027, “a regrettable sign”
In France, the study observes, measures to reduce the burden of production taxes “are real, but they deserve to be sustained.” The Montaigne Institute fears that “the obvious limitations that weigh on our public finances – 111.7% debt/GDP at the end of 2023” – will transform production taxes into “a simple budget adjustment tool.” He describes as a “regrettable sign” the postponement until 2027 of the total disappearance of the Business Added Value Contribution (CVAE) promised for 2024, after the elimination of the first semester in 2023.
However, the proportion of certain production taxes sometimes increases for good reasons, such as the contribution to apprenticeship, the result of a “proactive policy” of the government, whose number of apprentices doubled from 2018 to 2022, up to 950,000. The study finally points out that in six of the other eleven countries studied, the weight of production taxes in GDP also increased in 2022.
Source: BFM TV
