Overview
- Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin defended the proposed levy on income retained in holding companies and said the practice it targets is legal but abusive.
- Former economy minister Éric Lombard maintains that thousands of the richest have a zero revenu fiscal de référence and pay no income tax, a characterization Montchalin disputes.
- Montchalin said Bercy has no list naming such taxpayers, countering Lombard’s assertion that the tax administration holds detailed counts, while acknowledging the phenomenon exists.
- The measure, initially billed to raise about €1 billion, was cut to roughly €100 million in the Senate and has since disappeared from the National Assembly’s working scenario.
- Budget debates have been suspended until Tuesday, so the holding-company tax cannot be enacted without a voted 2026 budget, and Finance Committee chair Éric Coquerel has requested ministry documents on the issue.