Baluarte
04-15-2013, 02:43 PM
By GÉRALDINE AMIEL
PARIS—French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici on Monday said the government plans around €6 billion ($7.87 billion) of additional taxes in 2014, as the government strives to meet its deficit-reduction targets amid weak economic growth.
The move will increase the proportion of tax revenue to GDP by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage point. Most of the €6 billion will come from higher value-added and corporate taxes, he said.
Pierre Moscovici at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the informal meeting of Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Dublin on April 12.
Mr. Moscovici will present France's stability program to the European Commission on Wednesday. He has already warned that France will only be able to bring down its deficit to 3% of gross domestic product next year, rather than this year, because growth will be lower than initially forecast and the government "doesn't want to conduct austerity policies" that put the economy in danger of entering recession.
Mr. Moscovici, speaking in an interview with France Inter radio, was responding to a report in French business daily Les Echos that tax revenue would increase to a record 46.5% of GDP next year.
The French government will also target some tax-break schemes, Mr. Moscovici said, without elaborating.
The minister declined to comment when asked whether the French economy had contracted in the first quarter of this year.
France's economy contracted 0.3% in the last quarter of 2012. Had it contracted in the first quarter of this year, France's economy would be in recession—commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Earlier this month, the government confirmed its growth target of 0.1% in 2013 and said the deficit would be 3.7% of GDP this year.
Write to Géraldine Amiel at geraldine.amiel@dowjones.com
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Oh yes, yes, I'll have the chance to funnel more money to the plutocrats thanks to Jew Moscovici :D
PARIS—French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici on Monday said the government plans around €6 billion ($7.87 billion) of additional taxes in 2014, as the government strives to meet its deficit-reduction targets amid weak economic growth.
The move will increase the proportion of tax revenue to GDP by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage point. Most of the €6 billion will come from higher value-added and corporate taxes, he said.
Pierre Moscovici at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the informal meeting of Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Dublin on April 12.
Mr. Moscovici will present France's stability program to the European Commission on Wednesday. He has already warned that France will only be able to bring down its deficit to 3% of gross domestic product next year, rather than this year, because growth will be lower than initially forecast and the government "doesn't want to conduct austerity policies" that put the economy in danger of entering recession.
Mr. Moscovici, speaking in an interview with France Inter radio, was responding to a report in French business daily Les Echos that tax revenue would increase to a record 46.5% of GDP next year.
The French government will also target some tax-break schemes, Mr. Moscovici said, without elaborating.
The minister declined to comment when asked whether the French economy had contracted in the first quarter of this year.
France's economy contracted 0.3% in the last quarter of 2012. Had it contracted in the first quarter of this year, France's economy would be in recession—commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Earlier this month, the government confirmed its growth target of 0.1% in 2013 and said the deficit would be 3.7% of GDP this year.
Write to Géraldine Amiel at geraldine.amiel@dowjones.com
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Oh yes, yes, I'll have the chance to funnel more money to the plutocrats thanks to Jew Moscovici :D