The Minister of Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin announced Tuesday that he wanted to recover 15 billion euros on fraud in 2026, while 40 billion euros are to be found to maintain the deficit target of 4.6 % of GDP in 2026.
In 2024, “all the tax fraud, social together, it is 20 billion euros that we detected but it is above all, and that is the big news, 13 billion euros that we collected”, quantified the minister on France 2. “The objective for 2026 is that we collect 15 billion euros”, she continued.
🔴🗣️ “We are faced with a fraud industry”
Amélie de Montchalin, Minister responsible for public accounts, announces the tax target for 2026: recovering 15 billion euros. #Jt20h pic.twitter.com/XmeRuDnnF2
-Le20H-France Télévisions (@le20hfrancetele) April 15, 2025
Amélie de Montchalin spoke of an “organized crime industry” and said that we continue to collect money, because it is the money stolen from the French “.
Tens of billions in the pockets of “criminals”
Recovering the money from fraud constitutes a crucial issue for the government, which wishes to bring back the public deficit of France to 4.6 % of GDP in 2026.
To maintain this objective “will ask for an additional effort of 40 billion euros”, which is “very considerable”, had revealed on Sunday the French Minister of the economy Éric Lombard.
Fighting fraud, “this is a way of resolving deficit issues without increasing taxes so that honest people do not have to pay for criminals and fraudsters,” said Amélie de Montchalin on Tuesday.
“For years, fraud was anecdotal. Today, it is challenges in tens of billions that are essential to public services, ”she concluded.