French President Emmanuel Macron’s government is cracking down on executives who avoid paying taxes in France as part of efforts to quell “yellow vest” protesters.
The French government is scrutinizing the tax situation of business leaders and plans to take measures to force them to pay their taxes in France if necessary, French Minister of Public Action and Accounts Gerald Darmanin told Le Journal du Dimanche.
“Heads of listed businesses or businesses in which the state has a stake must absolutely be French tax residents,” Darmanin said.
Photo: AFP
The increased tax scrutiny is Macron’s latest effort to rope in businesses to respond to the protesters’ anger over inequality and the high cost of living. Alongside tax cuts for low-income households, Macron has also urged companies to pay special year-end bonuses to rank-and-file employees.
The government has resisted demands from many protesters to reinstate the wealth tax, which Macron abolished when he became president.
Darmanin said efforts to make executives pay tax in France should encourage more “civic” behavior, but making all executives pay tax in the country would not be simple as it could require renegotiating tax conventions.
“It would take years and we aren’t necessarily in a position of force to impose our views,” wealth advisory firm Equance head Olivier Grenon-Andrieu told Le Journal du Dimanche.
There are signs that the “yellow vest” movement could be losing steam.
The seventh Saturday of protests in the capital drew only 800 people to “sporadic” gatherings, Paris police said.
Some protesters have said they would take to the streets again yesterday amid New Year’s Eve celebrations, when Macron is expected to deliver an address to the nation.
French police forces are deploying extra means to secure public spaces for the New Year’s celebrations.
Police are to establish a perimeter around the Champs-Elysees in Paris and take steps to secure retail centers, public spaces and transport networks, the French Ministry of the Interior said in a statement on Sunday.
Almost 148,000 police officers and soldiers were to be mobilized in France yesterday evening, it said.
As tax cuts for households come into effect this month, Macron has also promised a national debate on democracy and public spending. The government hopes this would calm the protests and rebuild trust in the country’s institutions.
“The president has called for a big debate, and that’s a very good thing,” Darmanin said.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS