Abolished six years ago, the ISF has not disappeared from public debate. This solidarity tax on wealth makes a new incursion noticed through the economist Jean Pisani-Ferry, a time close to Emmanuel Macron. In a report on "the economic impact of climate action", billed at 66 billion euros per year, it proposes to finance the ecological transition in part by "an exceptional and temporary tax, based on the financial wealth of the 10% of wealthiest households, and calibrated according to the anticipated cost of the transition for public finances".
Enough to revive the memory of the "climate wealth tax", long demanded by environmental activists, such as Greenpeace, and many left-wing politicians.
But the proposal does not make a recipe on the side of the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. "The tax is not the solution," he hammered this Tuesday morning on RTL, while welcoming the quality of the work of Jean Pisani-Ferry. The minister recalled that the government did not intend to increase the taxpayer's tax burden to finance the ecological transition: "10% of taxpayers already pay 75% of income tax. Our goal is to lower taxes, because the tax burden is already the highest in the world in France," he said.
'There are alternative solutions'
If he agrees with Jean Pisani-Ferry on the cost of the green transition in France - between 60 to 70 billion euros per year - Bruno Le Maire has outlined other avenues of financing. "There are alternative solutions, such as greening existing taxation, stopping financing polluting activities," he argued. The minister also wants to "direct savings on green investments" and finance the necessary transformations "with companies". Finally, it is counting on the "mobilisation of banks", and in particular the European Investment Bank, to meet the climate challenges of tomorrow.
Same story, or almost, for the spokesman of the government Olivier Véran, invited in the morning of France Inter. "We believe that the transition can be self-financed by the transformations necessary to achieve it," he said, citing the importance of "developing innovation, [...] to reconcile growth and ecological transition". Regarding taxes, Olivier Véran believes, like Bruno Le Maire, "that we can get there without". "The challenge is to embark all of us in changes in behavior, production," defended the government spokesman.
The president of the Movement of France Enterprises (Medef), Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, for his part, castigated this morning on France Info "a Pavlovian solution of the French enarchy: a problem, a tax". The employer leader considers that Jean Pisani-Ferry's proposal to tax the highest assets up to 5% is a "contradiction". "He asks companies to invest, but he proposes to tax capital, so those who invest in companies," he regretted.
Despite his disagreement on this issue, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux welcomed "positive" aspects in the report, in particular the defense of a "sober, greener growth" in the absence of a degrowth. "There we agree," he said.