MEPs adopted a new measure on Wednesday to fight against the tax optimization of large groups, a day after the vote in favor of a “universal tax” on multinationals, already criticized by the government side as a “tax escalation” contrary to European and international standards.
At the end of the afternoon, an alliance between the left and the National Rally allowed the adoption of an amendment promoted by LFI aimed at expanding the scope of application of the 15% minimum tax on the profits of multinationals. This tax, introduced by the government in 2024 as part of an international agreement led by the OECD, aims to implement a coordinated response to tax evasion by large companies. According to estimates by the Ministry of Finance, in 2026 it should generate income of around 500 million euros.
However, for the Oxfam association, the effectiveness of the measure would be strongly limited by a criterion of business volume and would only affect 10% of multinationals, those that register more than 750 million annual income. The Assembly therefore voted in favor of reducing the threshold to 500 million euros.
“We see the same conjunction between LFI and RN that we saw yesterday regarding the fictitious 26,000 million euros voted in defiance of international and European standards,” denounced the Minister of Public Service, David Amiel, in the chamber.
A “fiscal oversupply”
Since Tuesday, the government sector has denounced a “tax escalation” after the vote on a measure aimed at taxing the profits of multinationals in proportion to their activity carried out in France. According to its defenders, this measure could contribute up to 26 billion euros to the state budget.
This is once again “a highway towards litigation”, which would “discredit our country’s words on an international scale” and “give fodder to all those who want to dismantle this cooperation”, denounced David Amiel after the vote on this new measure. “We assume 100%” of this vote, insisted RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy. “We do not defend the values of the NFP (New Popular Front, the alliance of the left in the last legislative elections), nor those of the oligarchy, but French values,” he stated.
In the process, the National Rally managed to narrowly pass, against government advice, an amendment to increase taxes on share buybacks to combat speculation. The majority of left-wing deputies abstained. Then it was France Insoumise that managed to approve, in a very close vote, an amendment that introduced an exceptional tax on superdividends. The RN deputies in turn abstained.
“Tax justice, we can work on it (…) but taxing and sanctioning success, growth and employment is not our compass,” lamented the Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, opposed to the measure.
Source: BFM TV
