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It is a cumbersome file for the Élysée.
According to a commission of inquiry in the Senate, the French subsidiaries of the McKinsey firm, which regularly carry out missions for the State, would not have paid any corporate tax in ten years.
In a report published Thursday, the senators refer to a "caricatural example of tax optimization".
Questioned this Friday on BFMTV, the government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, first tried to defuse the controversy, assuring that the "recourse to advice is nothing new".
"The State can strengthen itself punctually by calling on skills that come from the private sector when these skills do not come from the State or to support a crisis", he insisted.
In times of pandemic, the prestigious American firm had thus worked on the country's vaccination strategy.
Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) on consulting firms: "It's not a taboo (...) The State can strengthen itself by calling on skills that come from the private sector" pic.twitter.com/ZiBGx3yZMy
– BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 18, 2022
Regarding the accusations of tax evasion, the government spokesman said he was "always shocked when companies that make profits in France do not pay taxes".
“We have no qualms about saying that in France when we make profits, we have to pay taxes,” he underlined, citing in passing the 3% tax introduced on GAFA, the giants of the digital, in 2019.
“We are going to move forward very calmly on this subject”
If McKinsey is targeted by charges of tax evasion, Gabriel Attal has not indicated that he will put an end to all collaboration between the Élysée and the firm.
The government spokesman, however, insisted that an investigation "was underway" and that the government was aiming to better regulate the activity of the councils.
Read alsoAdvice on vaccine strategy, education and pensions: 5 minutes to understand the controversy over the McKinsey cabinet
“We are going to lower our expenses in this area.
But if there is a parliamentary inquiry underway, it shows that there is a desire for transparency on our part”.
Before continuing: “we want to frame things more, we are going to move forward very calmly on this subject.
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Faced with the accusations against him, the McKinsey firm had assured for its part in a press release published Thursday evening to respect “all the applicable French tax and social rules” and said to have paid corporate tax “the years when the firm has made profits in France.