User:Pahpaha/taxation in France

In France, taxes are levied by the governement, and colllected by the public administrations. the French "public administrations" is made up of three different institutions:


 * the central government, i.e. the State (general budget, special Treasury accounts, special budgets) and "various central administration bodies" (ODAC). This heading covers several hundreds of public and private sector establishments, including CADES, EPFR (the Crédit Lyonnais defeasance structure), ANPE, CNRS, CNASEA, CEA, state-run "Grandes Ecoles" and national museums. The criterion used to class an establishment as part of the general government is not its legal status but the structure of its statement of revenue and expenditure (fraction of current charges financed from commercial revenue).
 * local governments, which include agencies with limited territorial jurisdiction, such as local authorities, local public establishments, chambers of commerce, school funds and all public or quasi-public bodies financed primarily by local governments.
 * the social security funds, i.e. all mandatory social security funds (general scheme, unemployment insurance schemes, complementary retirement funds and welfare benefit funds, funds for the liberal professions and agricultural funds, special employee schemes) and the agencies financed by such funds (social works, public and private sector hospitals contributing to public hospital services and financed from an aggregate operating grant).

Taxes in France are made up of taxes in the narrow meaning of the word, plus social security deductions. Most of the taxes are collected by the governement and the local collectivities, while the social deductions are collected by the Social Security. There a distinction to be made between taxes (impots), which applies to production, importations, wealth and incomes, and social contributions (cotisations sociales), whiich are part of the total wage paid by an employer when he remunarates an employee. Taxes and contributions together are called in French prelevements obligatoires (compulsary deductions).

Strictly speaking, there are four elements in the prelevements obligatoires:, there are Les prélèvements obligatoires comprennent les impôts, les redevances pour services rendus, les droits de douane et les cotisations sociales. physiques et morales en fonction de leurs capacités contributives et sans contrepartie déterminée en vue de la couverture des dépenses publiques et de la réalisation d'objectifs économiques et sociaux fixés par la puissance publique. A noter que les taxes parafiscales, qui représentaient une part très faible des prélèvements obligatoires, étaient instituées dans un but d'ordre économique, professionnel ou social au profit de personnes morales de droit public ou privé autres que l'Etat, les collectivités territoriales et leurs établissements publics administratifs, c'est-à-dire, le plus souvent, au profit d'organismes professionnels. L’article 63 de la loi organique n° 2001-692 du 1er août 2001 relative aux lois de finances a supprimé, à compter du 1er janvier 2004, les taxes parafiscales. Celles-ci ont été remplacées par des taxes fiscales affectées, des contributions volontaires ou des dotations budgétaires selon le secteur. services publics ou en contrepartie du droit de les utiliser, sont également des prélèvements obligatoires mais elles ne constituent pas à proprement parler des impôts dès lors qu'elles donnent droit à des contreparties. strictement économique, leur objet étant de protéger le marché intérieur. Cela étant, certains prélèvements obligatoires perçus par l'administration des douanes constituent des impôts : il s'agit de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée perçue sur les biens provenant des Etats non-membres de l'Union européenne, de la taxe sur les produits pétroliers, qui s'applique quelle que soit l'origine des produits, et des accises. impôts dans la mesure où elles sont perçues dans un but déterminé - la protection sociale - et où le versement de prestations en constitue la contrepartie. Cependant, certains impôts, assis sur les revenus des personnes physiques, sont intégralement affectés à des organismes sociaux : ils n'ouvrent droit à aucune contrepartie directe au profit des assujettis.
 * Les impôts sont des prestations pécuniaires mises à la charge des personnes
 * Les redevances pour services rendus, qui sont dues en cas d'utilisation de certains
 * Quant aux droits de douane, ils se distinguent des impôts en raison de leur caractère
 * Enfin, en dépit de leur caractère obligatoire, les cotisations sociales ne sont pas des

Taxes on production and importation
Obligatory payments without counterpart, in cash or in kind, collected by public administrations or by the institutions of the UE and which strikes the production and the importation of goods and of services, use of labour and the property or the use of grounds, buildings and other credits used for the sake of production. These taxes are independant from profits. They include taxes on the products and others taxes on the production. The taxes on the production cover essentially the taxe professionnelle, the taxe foncière and the versement transport (the professional tax, tax land and the payment transport), which are local taxes.

Taxe on the added value/TVA
The VAT is a tax on output collected by the companies and completely supported by the buyer, i.e. the consumers. The current standard rate is at 19,6% and the reduced rate 5.5% (for food and books). A specific rate of 2,1% applies only to the drugs repayable by the Social Security.

The applicable rates of VAT in Metropolitan France are as follows

normal rate of 19,6%; reduced rate of 5,5%; particular rate of 2,1%. The normal rate, which is the rate of common right, is fixed at 19,6%.

The field of application of the normal rate is not defined in a restrictive way, since it applies to all the taxable operations for which another rate is not especially planned.

The reduced rate of 5,5% applies to certain products limitativement indicated by the law (article 278 (a) and following of Cgi) (nonexhaustive List):

- nonalcoholic water and drinks, - products intended for the human consumption (except for the products of the confectionery, certain chocolates and produced - chocolate, margarines and vegetable fats, caviar), - products of agricultural origin, fishing, pisciculture, and poultry farming not having undergone any transformation, - following products of domestic use: firewood, products of sylviculture agglomerated intended for the heating, chips of wood intended for the heating, - food simple or made up used for food of the cattle, the animals of farmyard, fish of breeding intended for human consumption and of the bees, as well as the products using the composition of this food and whose list is fixed at article 31 of appendix IV of the cgi, - following products of agricultural use: amendments limestones, manure, sulphur, copper sulfate and shot used for the manufacture of copper sulfate, as well as the cupric products containing copper 10% at least, - pest-destroying products, provided they were the subject either of a homologation, or of an authorization of sale delivered by the minister in charge of agriculture, - books, - drugs, masterly preparations and officinal products not taken charges some by the social security. - equipment for handicapped people aimed to the chapter 1st, 3 to 7 of title II and with titles III and IV of the ministerial tariff of the medical services, special equipment, whose list is in article 30-0 B of appendix IV with the cgi, as well as the other products aimed to article 278 quinquies of the cgi, - works of art, objects of collection or antiquity.

The particular rate of 2,1% is applicable to the drugs, masterly preparations and officinal products taken charges some by the social security and with the blood products (article 281 octies of Cgi), like with the publications of press (article 298 septies with 298 terdecies of Cgi).

droits de douane
** Les tabacs manufacturés (débitants de tabacs) ** Les alcools, vins, cidres et autres boissons alcooliques ** Le marché viti-vinicole ** Les statistiques mensuelles viti-vinicoles ** La circulation des alcools, des boissons et des produits alcooliques ** La fiscalité écologique (taxe générale sur les activités polluantes) ** Les produits pétroliers : régime économique et fiscal ** La réglementation des métaux précieux ** Taxes fiscales affectées et autres taxes

Impôts sur le revenu des personnes physiques (IRPP)
For the households, this tax includes primarily income tax, CSG and the CRDS. For the companies, it is mainly about the tax on the companies.

Local taxes

 * indirect taxes
 * taxe fonciere
 * taxe d'habitation
 * taxe professionnelle

European taxes
Within the EU, governments retain sole responsibility for levels of direct taxation –i.e. tax on personal incomes and company profits. What EU taxation policy does is ensure that tax rules are consistent with the goals of job creation, the EU’s competitiveness, the single market and free movement of capital. Compared with its principal partners, France has a high rate of taxation : in 2006, it was higher of 4,1 points of GDP than that of the average taxation rate of the countries of the UE (15 countries alone) and 8,0 points compared to the OECD countries. In 2006, the fiscal burden (including the socaial contributions voluntary and charged) represents in the UE (27) 40,9% of the GDP, compared with 40,4% in 2005. Levels of imposition in the European Union remain generally high compared to the rest of the world, exceeding those of tehe US and Japan. un Member State with the other, in 2006, from less than 30% in Roumannie and Slovakia to nearly 50% in Denmark and in Sweden. Rates of taxation have fluctuated a lot witin the last decade. The most important falls were recorded in Slovakia and Estonia. The most important rises were observed in Cyprus and with Malta.

Local taxes

 * fiscalité directe : taxe foncière sur les propriétés bâties, taxe foncière sur les propriétés non bâties, taxe d'habitation, taxe professionnelle
 * fiscalité indirecte : vignette, droits de mutation, carte grise...

Local administrations
The budgets voted by the local communities in 2007 consider a sensible increase in budgetary amounts. Rises in the expenditure of the areas and the departements is explained by the continuation of the effective transfer of a certain number of competences. The communes, in year preelectorale, have seen a sustained growth in investments and a slight increase in working expenditure.

The product of four local direct taxes amounted in 2006 to 60,2 billion euros. Produits of these four taxes is very different: 137 millions euros for the taxe sur le foncier non bâti (taxe on the land not built) and more than 26 billion euros for the professional tax, with the taxe sur le foncier bâti (tax on the land) and the taxe d'habitation (tax of housing) has reached together nearly 33 billion euros. The taxe sur le foncier non bâti has underwent a reduction because of new exemptions which were implemented in 2006. The taxe foncière sur les propriétés non bâties, collected by communes (land tax on the undeveloped properties taxed) were the subject of exemption of 20% in favour of agricultural lands and communes which benefit from a fiscal setoff. The total product of the direct taxation is unequally distributed between the communal sector (communes and EPCI), the departments and the regions. less than two thirds (62,6%) of the product of the four taxes is taken by the communes and EPCI. The departmental product accounts for 30,1% of the total product and produit regional only 7,3%.

Budget balance
In 2008, the general balancewas at 67,6 bn€, -3,8 bn€ compared to 2007 (- 63,8 bn€). Expenditure reach 184,9 bn€ against 180,9 bn€ one year earlier. The increase in the expenditure in 2008 is due almost exclusively to the growth of interest of the debt, under the effect of the rise in the inflation which raises in particular the burden of indexing of the obligations. As for the others expenses, their growth is in conformity with the forecasts of the finance law for 2008. The revenues of the budget are of 138,9 bn€ against 139,5 bn€ one year earlier.

In addition to the expenditure relating to the missions registered with the budget general of the State, the receipts perceived by State (A B) also finance the local collectivities and Europe; the whole of the expenditure financed with the revenue collected by the state is of 448 157 M€ (380 010 M€ relating to the missions of the budget general, the budgets year2C a share of the expenditure of the local authorities and Europe).

Public debt
The French government negotiable debt as of 31 August 2008 was 983,753,186,795 euros. In 2001, the parliement votedthe LOI ORGANIQUE DU 1ER AOÛT 2001 RELATIVE AUX LOIS DE FINANCES, implemented in 2005, which created the Agence France Tresor, designed to manage the public debt. The AFT assesses its issuance and debt management policy, in addition to average debt maturity.

Debt weighs very heavily in France’s annual budget. Coupon payments (annual interest owed on borrowed sums, known as "debt service") are the second largest budget item right after national education, i.e. € 39.5 bn in 2004.

The debt is the total of all public financial commitments. It is the aggregate public borrowing requirement, i.e. the year-on-year difference between its incomings (tax revenue, proceeds from privatisations, etc.) and its outgoings (budget expenditure, acquisition of holdings, etc.). There is negotiable debt, i.e. contracted in the form of financial instruments that can be traded on the financial markets (government securities) and non-negotiable debt, which corresponds to deposits made by certain bodies (local and regional authorities, public establishments, etc.) into the Treasury’s account and is also a government funding method.

In the meaning of the Maastricht Treaty, the general government debt measures total gross financial commitment of the general government except commercial credit and accounting delays. This is a gross debt, which means that the financial assets of the general government (Treasury cash deposits with the Banque de France, repos, government interests, retirement fund securities investments) are not deducted. Under the Maastricht rules, debt is measured in terms of real value instead of market value. It is consolidated, which means that debts contracted between general government administrations are eliminated, particularly deposits of local governments with the Public Treasury.

History of taxes in France
At the end of the thirteen century, the king of France had to levy taxes to cope with growing expenses, above all mmilitar y espenses. These taxes became gradually regular.

Recent history
In 2007, the rate of general taxation was down 0.6 at 43,3%. The fall in the tax rate concern above all the taxes collected by the governement, mainly because of new deductions (- 12,4 billions euros) and transfers of taxation to the other public administrations (- 5,3 billion euros). In 2007, taxation of the governement moved back by 0,7 point of GDP, at 14,4% of the GDP compared with 15,1% in 2006. This clear fall confirms the downward trend, mainly explained by the implenmentation of non-favourable mesures which have cut the income of the state by 0,7 point of GDP. These cuts concern mainly income tax (redefinition of tax scale, rise in the prime pour l'emploi, reinforcement of the crédits d’impôt développement durable et pour garde d’enfants hors domicile (durable tax credits development and Garde children except residence)) and, to a lesser extent, the tax on companies (adjustment of the mode of the installments). In 2007, taxes benefiting the APUL accounted for 5,7% of the GDP compared with 5,6% in 2006. This rise is the consequence of the transfers of competence fromthe governement to the local authorities, in the context of a movement of devolution, started in 2002. The rate of the administrations of social security (ASSO) is maintained to 22,0% GDP.