Posted Nov 2, 2022, 7:00 AMUpdated Nov 2, 2022, 7:49 a.m.
The “yellow vests” crisis definitely did not happen by chance. If France remained in 2021 the country of the euro zone with the strongest tax burden, it owes it in particular to the fact that it has a taxation of consumption – and more particularly of certain products such as fuel, tobacco or alcohol – stronger than its neighbors. This is what emerges from a study by the site specializing in public finance Fipeco, which draws up an inventory of the hexagonal tax situation.
With a compulsory levy rate of 47% of GDP in 2021, France is still in the lead in this area in the euro zone, well above the average (42.2%). Among the explanatory factors, the Fipeco study points to the weight of taxes on consumption, “higher in France (12.3% of GDP) than in the euro zone (11.1%) and than in Germany (10 .1%)”.