“Thousands” of ultra-rich “do not pay the tax they should pay in the country”, says Éric Coquerel after a visit to Bercy

Thousands, “even tens of thousands” of the wealthiest people “do not pay the tax they should pay in the country”, said Friday the LFI president of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, Éric Coquerel, after having consulted documents from Bercy on the taxation of the richest.

“According to the documents that I have consulted, there are several thousand people, even several tens of thousands who, not do not pay income tax, but who have very, very low tax income compared to their estimated economic income,” declared Éric Coquerel to the press, after a visit to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

It all started with a declaration by the former Minister of the Economy, Éric Lombard, according to which “thousands” of taxpayers among the wealthiest have “a reference tax income of zero” and pay “no income tax”. The former minister assured that he would rely on the work of the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP).

“What Éric Lombard said seems confirmed to me”

This concerns thousands of people “definitely”, indicated Éric Coquerel. “What Éric Lombard said seems confirmed to me. He had gone so far as to say do not pay income taxwe are not there, but they have declared reference tax income which is much lower than their income”, “very certainly below 5%”, he assured.

Eric Lombard’s statements had provoked strong reactions in the political field on the left and relaunched the debate on the taxation of the highest assets. Éric Coquerel had asked the government to consult the documents on which the former minister said he relied at the start of the week.

The rebellious MP specified on Friday that he had consulted several notes from Bercy produced at a time when the government was considering a differential contribution on heritage, a differential contribution on high incomes and the establishment of a “holding tax”.

A lack of knowledge of movable heritage?

He also denounced a “lack of statistical tools” and an “almost complete ignorance of the movable assets of the richest”, a situation worsened according to him since the abolition of the wealth solidarity tax (ISF), because these tax households “no longer have to declare it to the ISF”.

The president and general rapporteur of the Senate Finance Committee, Claude Raynal (PS) and Jean-François Husson (LR), had sent a similar request to Bercy. They indicated that they had received confirmation on Friday of a “first sending of the requested documents”.