Overview
- The Cour des comptes published a policy note on Monday, September 21, 2026, that recommends a ‘moderate but progressive’ annual tax on personal fortunes excluding professional assets and other targeted patrimonial changes.
- The Court quantifies the patrimonial measures at roughly €1.4bn for the wealth levy plus about €4.7bn from other changes such as extending a holdings tax, rolling back the Pacte Dutreil advantage, taxing excess deposit interest, and trimming life‑insurance succession exemptions.
- To limit the net fiscal impact the Court proposes offsetting cuts including lower property transaction taxes and a five‑point cut across transmission duty brackets so the package amounts to a modest net increase of about €1.83bn borne by the largest estates.
- Separately the Court urges an additional €20bn of savings on the public wage bill over three years, achieved by fewer replacements for retirees, slower indexation of the civil‑service point and tighter category pay measures, a recommendation that has drawn union criticism and a planned strike on September 29.
- The note stresses why change is needed by citing concentration of wealth—around €17,000bn in household assets with half held by 10% of households—and argues that many existing exemptions have made patrimonial taxation effectively regressive for the biggest estates.