In France, super-wealthy people may be forced to pay more taxes as the country tries to increase its military spending.
Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry – Éric Lombard said that the current cabinet is looking for ways to phase out plans from previously failed governments to impose taxes.
“Those who save a lot of money must contribute by paying more taxes,” Lombard said in an interview in Franceinfo on Tuesday.
“We want to make this tax permanent, but make sure it’s a role in what we call fiscal overoptimization,” he said.
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The minister also talked about how the government looked for ways to mobilize investors and build defense-focused investment funds for private investors.
The French government plans to increase its defense budget by 3 billion euros per year until 2030.
However, the country has been struggling with high budget deficits and debt, reaching €3.3 trillion.
“We pay more than 50 billion euros to creditors every year, more or less a defense budget,” the minister said.
“We will have to do more [to increase defence budgets],” warned Lombard, but he assured that it did not mean cutting social spending.
Taxation is a hot topic in France
The House of Commons of the National Assembly, France’s parliament, voted in favor of a 2% wealth tax on super assets nearly two weeks ago.
Despite the high doubts whether the Senate will accept the bill, it seems to be a major milestone.
The bill aims at net assets of more than 100 million euros and is expected to be budgeted at 25 billion euros per year.
