The coronavirus crisis has not spared customs revenue, which stood at 76.2 billion euros last year against 85.1 billion in 2019, a decrease of 10%, according to the 2020 annual report of customs, issued Friday.
By limiting travel and activity, the restrictive measures had an impact on the yield of the internal consumption tax on energy products (TICPE), which fell by 4.8 billion between 2019 and 2020, to settle to 28 billion.
Another example: tax revenue from petroleum VAT, which represented 8 billion euros last year against 11.4 billion euros in 2019.
Finally, only the revenues from the sale of tobacco are successful, amounting to 15.3 billion euros in 2020 against 13.4 billion in 2019. Not surprisingly, because of health restrictions, smokers were forced to buy more of their packs of cigarettes in France, where prices are sometimes higher than in other countries.
Read also:
On the drug highway, the endless hunt for "A8 mules"
As for customs seizures, the 2020 balance sheet is lower than in 2019. Customs got their hands on 284.5 tonnes of contraband tobacco, which is less than the 360.3 tonnes of the previous year.
88.7 tonnes of narcotics were also seized against 100.8 tonnes in 2019. The year 2020 was "
unique, marked by the strong responsiveness of its agents to the health crisis" as
well as
"the completion of several years preparation for Brexit and deep modernization projects
”, specifies the Ministry of Action and Public Accounts.
From the start of the pandemic, customs were mobilized to facilitate, but also to control, imports of sanitary equipment.
An action which led to the withdrawal from the market of "
11.7 million non-compliant masks and more than 270,000 counterfeit masks
" (Bercy figures).