Overview
- Budget rapporteur Philippe Juvin said it is highly probable the National Assembly will not complete examination on time, with a receipts vote slipping and the expenditures section unlikely to reach a vote before the constitutional cutoffs.
- Deputies rejected the Zucman wealth‑floor tax but unexpectedly backed an amendment turning the real‑estate wealth tax into an ‘improductive wealth’ levy via a broad cross‑party vote, a measure the government opposes and has not yet quantified.
- Economy Minister Roland Lescure warned that some adopted measures are inoperable, decrying “fiscal witchcraft,” while Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin estimated the voted changes lift the tax take to 45.1% of GDP, excluding the new wealth tax under debate.
- Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is pursuing a strategy of small steps with cross‑party talks and gestures on hospitals and pensions to avoid censure, as debates resume Monday before the Social Security budget occupies the chamber from Tuesday.
- Business leaders voiced relief at the defeat of the Zucman tax yet flagged competitiveness risks and uncertainty from shifting surtaxes on companies and asset‑based levies.