“You are here in a country at the forefront of creativity in terms of taxes”: Emmanuel Macron quipped on Thursday on the strong French tax pressure, pleading for the “internationalization” of taxes. During a summit debate on the global financial system that he organizes in Paris, the French president bounced back on calls for new international taxes to finance the fight against global warming and poverty.
In France, “we are number two worldwide in terms of levels” of compulsory levies, said the head of state, who spoke in English. “And yet we have an airline tax, we have a financial transaction tax. We have implemented both,” he added, lamenting that the rest of the world has not followed suit, despite years of debate in favor of these taxes.
“Sometimes we feel a little lonely,” Emmanuel Macron continued. “I am a big supporter of the internationalization of these taxes, because it would reduce my problems,” added the head of state, who has made a political commitment not to increase and even to reduce French taxes, and s Attracted the nickname “president of the rich” for having partially abolished, during his first term, the solidarity tax on wealth.