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7h ago

France Unveils 2026 Budget With New Holdings Tax and Extended Minimum Levy on Top Incomes

Parliament now takes up the package following the prime minister's admission of tax anomalies in how the very wealthy are taxed.

Le Premier ministre, Sébastien Lecornu, à l'Assemblée, le 14 octobre.
«Il faut savoir tirer les bienfaits d’une crise», introduit Sébastien Lecornu en plein discours de politique générale
«Nous vivons et vivrons dans une époque de crise», affirme Sébastien Lecornu à l’Assemblée nationale
Nouvelle taxe de 2 % sur les holdings : 1 milliard attendu pour l'État, mais une tentative timide de taxation des hauts patrimoines

Overview

  • The government presented its 2026 draft budget at the Council of Ministers and sent it to Parliament for a 40-day National Assembly review, 20 days in the Senate and a 10-day joint phase.
  • The Contribution différentielle on high incomes is extended into 2026, setting a 20% minimum effective tax rate above €250,000 for singles and €500,000 for couples.
  • A new levy targets the financial assets of family holding companies, applying to residents with foreign holdings and potentially covering about 30,000 structures, with government estimates of €1–1.5 billion in revenue.
  • Sébastien Lecornu acknowledged anomalies in taxing very large fortunes and proposed an exceptional contribution on great wealth to fund strategic investments, while also announcing the suspension of the 2023 pension reform.
  • Other measures in the bill include replacing the 10% income-tax allowance for pensioners with a €2,000 per-person allowance, accelerating the abolition of the CVAE by 2028, and introducing a temporary €2 charge per small imported parcel, as economist Gabriel Zucman publicly criticizes the holdings tax as largely sparing billionaire wealth.