David Amiel accuses them of "bludgeoning businesses": MPs adopt several taxes supported by the left targeting digital giants and superdividends

The left is advancing its pawns on the budgetary front. This Friday, October 30, the deputies of the National Assembly adopted various taxes on large businesses, against the advice of the government. A tax on data flows emitted by internet content providers has thus been introduced into the text: the socialists estimate the yield at 10 billion euros.

It would target "overwhelmingly the digital giants", defended the socialist Laurent Lhardit, with the Minister of Public Accounts David Amiel warning against its effects on smaller suppliers, particularly French ones. MEPs also voted for a 5% tax on superdividends from companies that increase their dividends by more than 20%. Nicolas Sansu (PCF) recalled that in the second quarter, France was the European country where companies paid the most dividends in Europe, and the second in the world behind the United States.

“The economic bet of macronism has failed,” accused Éric Coquerel, LFI president of the Finance Committee. Green light for the Papin pact David Amiel defended the supply-side policy, warning against the risk of "bludgeoning businesses" and thus harming employment and competitiveness. But that's not all.

A 10% tax on share buybacks carried out by CAC40 companies has also been adopted. Jean-Philippe Tanguy (RN) also denounced these operations, which he described as a speculative tool and destruction of value. An amendment from the centrist and independent Liot group proposing a national loan of 50 billion euros from individuals, paid at 3.5% and tax-free, was also adopted.

The deputies, who have deleted entire sections of the text since the start of the debates, however adopted the article establishing a new "Papin pact", named after the Minister of Commerce Serge Papin, intended to facilitate the takeover of SMEs by their employees. A socialist amendment came to regulate the planned tax advantages, notably removing the capital gains allowance granted to the transferor. In the process, the deputies opened the "housing" section of the text, expanding beyond what the government wants the conditions for benefiting from a zero-interest loan.

Economy at a standstill The taxes massively defended by the left were approved during a debate which several times turned into a trial of the supply-side policy of macronism, after the bad news on inflation announced in the morning. The consumer price index actually reached 3.4% over one year in October, its highest level since January 2024 according to INSEE. The statistical institute also announced a decline of 0.1% in in the third quarter, after a drop of 0.2% in the first and stagnation in the second.

Machine-translated from French