France, Prime Minister Barnier: Tax Hikes Will Last “a Year or Two”

France is in shock after the announced tax hike, which is supposed to be “selective” and affect only “extremely wealthy” companies and individuals. According to French Prime Minister Michel Barnier (pictured), around 300 companies will be affected by the tax hikes, which will last “a year or two,” with new “targeted, exceptional, temporary taxes on the largest companies that generate a billion or more in revenues.”

French public opinion has little or no faith in this move, because “nothing is more permanent than something temporary.”

Today, of course, there is no shortage of promises from the new French cabinet. The Minister of Budget and Public Accounts, Laurent Saint-Martin, said, among other things, that the tax increase recently announced by Prime Minister Barnier “will affect 0.3% of French families.” Saint-Martin gave the example of “a family without children whose income is about 500,000 euros a year.” According to the Secretary, “we can legitimately ask the most fortunate taxpayers of this country to participate on an exceptional and temporary basis in this recovery effort.”

For his part, French President Emanuel Macron warned that “exclusive corporate taxation” would be temporary and limited. “The solution should not be a short-term adjustment by cutting social spending” or even an additional flat tax because “we don’t have serious fiscal maneuvers,” the French head of state said.

According to a recent poll conducted for the newspaper Le Figaro by the Verian-Epoka analytical agency, French people’s level of trust in President Macron has lost another three points in a month and fell to 22%, reaching its lowest level since his re-election in April 2022. However, it should be remembered that Macron recorded his lowest approval rating of 21% during the yellow vest crisis in 2018. According to the same poll, Barnier, the recently appointed prime minister, is at 32 percent.

Former French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called Barnier’s announced financial maneuver “unacceptable,” which involves capital gains on the country’s most important fortunes. “I will not vote for a tax increase,” Darmanin told France Info radio, according to which such a project would return “to the socialist era” of former President Francois Hollande.