The mayor doesn’t want to raise taxes

2023-05-23 18:46:00

The Minister of Economy and Finance mentioned four ways to finance the “very high cost” of the transition to a low-carbon economy.

By MR with AFP

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“We will not increase taxes, we do not think that a new tax, a new tax, is the solution”, underlined Bruno Le Maire.
© AMAURY CORNU / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP

Published on 23/05/2023 at 18:46

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Ahe day after the National Council for Ecological Transition, one question remains: how to finance climate action? While a report submitted to the government recommends recourse to public debt and taxes, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, brushed aside this possibility.

This report, commissioned by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne from the economist Jean Pisani-Ferry, estimates that an additional 66 billion euros per year, including up to 34 billion in public funds, are the investments needed to reach the target by 2030. a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990.

To finance them, the document proposes to resort to public debt and to introduce an exceptional tax on the financial heritage of the wealthiest French people. Asked about the creation of a new tax, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, for his part estimated on Monday that it was “not a taboo subject”.

“We will not raise taxes”

“The two options, which are not good options in my opinion, are the increase in taxes or the increase in our debt, which is already too high”, on the other hand swept Bruno Le Maire at the microphone of RTL . “We will not raise taxes, we do not believe that a new tax, a new tax, is the solution,” he stressed. On the contrary, the government’s policy is to “lower taxes […] in a country that has the highest tax burden of all developed countries,” he insisted.

READ ALSOThe promise of a “green industry” challenged by realityThe number two of the government mentioned four ways to finance the “very high cost” of the transition to a decarbonized economy, already advanced in the framework of the green industry bill. It is a question of greening the existing taxation and therefore reducing the tax advantages on fossil fuels, of mobilizing the savings of the French, of having the transition financed by companies; and of mobilizing the banks, including the European Investment Bank (EIB).

“All of this should allow us to have the means to finance the ecological transition without worsening the state of our public finances”, assured Bruno Le Maire. The report was published as Elisabeth Borne presented her plan on Monday to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in France by 2030.