Reduce the deficit, and quickly. Faced with a public deficit which should amount to 5.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), or 154 billion euros according to the INSEE assessment, instead of the figure of 4.9% initially planned, the government is under pressure.
Following these announcements, the Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Lemaire assured that he was “determined” to fall below the 3% mark by 2027. Several avenues are being considered to try to achieve this.
The pressure is all the greater as France finds itself in the crosshairs of the rating agencies, which set the “tone” to the markets. France’s rating risks being downgraded, which would make its debt even more costly. Thus the Moody’s agency considered the prospect of reducing the public deficit to 2.7% of GDP by 2027 “unlikely”, as reported by the Reuters agency cited by Les Échos.
This information reminds us how complicated it can be for a government to find sources of revenue. Also, on a much lighter level, it is an opportunity to look (see the slideshow below) at these eccentric and improbable taxes that have existed in history or still exist in the world.
However, there is no need to worry too much about seeing some of them return: if the recommendations of the Court of Auditors are followed, the time would rather be for the elimination of “low-yield taxes”.