Attac activists brought a
“check”
for 60 billion euros to the Ministry of the Economy and Finance this Monday, April 6, representing the way in which, according to them, the public deficit could be filled by taxing the very rich. rather than cutting spending.
The group of around ten people presented themselves at the start of the day in front of the ministry, noted AFP, with this facsimile of approximately 2 square meters of a check from the
“Superprofit Bank”
located in Luxembourg , emanating from an account
“Bernard Arnault & Co”
(the CEO of LVMH is the richest man in the world according to Forbes, Editor’s note) residing
“Impasse du Paradis Fiscal”
in the 16th arrondissement. They asked to meet Bruno Le Maire, were turned away with a smile, then left the place.
Taxing corporate “superprofits”
“60 billion is what the government could recover this summer, with a draft amending finance law”
, by taxing
“the financial windfall”
resulting in particular from the surge in profits of large companies, said the one of the spokespersons, Youlie Yamamoto. On the contrary, she noted, the government prefers to
“cut socio-ecological budgets”
, and
“pick the pockets of the precarious”
, to reduce a public deficit which has slipped from 4.9% of GDP forecast in 2023 to 5 .5%.
The government has announced at least 30 billion euros in savings over 2024-2025, but no tax increase. However, he launched a reflection, still vague, on a taxation of
“rents”
.
“However, even within the majority, there are discussions”
on the taxation of superprofits, and
“even Joe Biden”
, the President of the United States, has already denounced them, underlined Youlie Yamamoto, estimating that
“the society is ripe”
for this change.
An Elabe poll for
Les Échos
recently showed that 84% of French people want a tax on superprofits to reduce the deficit, and 76% want an increase in taxes on the richest. Attac also launched a petition on Monday, “60 billion by taxing the richest, now it’s possible!” According to the association,
“10 to 20 billion”
euros could be recovered from superprofits, 18 billion from a unitary taxation of tax evasion, 10 billion from a
“real wealth tax”
,
“5 to 10 billion »
on the transmission of large assets,
“15 to 20 billion”
on tax and social niches, and 2 billion on financial income.