Large French companies benefit proportionally more from tax credits than smaller companies, says the Council for Compulsory Levies (CPO) in a study published on Tuesday. “Large companies liable for corporation tax (IS) all benefited in 2019 from at least one tax credit compared to 61% of medium-sized companies (ETI), 30% of small and medium-sized companies and only 8 % of microenterprises”, details this institution placed with the Court of Auditors.
Another observation by the members of the CPO, “large companies received 42% of tax credits in 2019, while they were only liable for 38% of gross corporate tax”. “The proportion of tax credits enjoyed by ETIs and SMEs were close to their contribution to corporation tax,” they continue. “On the other hand, micro-enterprises which were liable for 16% of the gross IS only received 9% of the tax credits.”
In its study carried out at the request of the Finance Committee of the Assembly chaired by LFI deputy Éric Coquerel, which is preparing a report on the tax differentials between companies, the CPO also notes the instability of the effective tax rate of companies (the one corresponding to the taxes actually paid). “Between 2009 and 2022, the range of variation in the average effective tax rate for large companies represents 12.4 points in France. The unweighted average of the euro zone is 4.9 points”, compares the institution.
“Only Greece has experienced greater instability,” alarmed the authors of the study. While some big companies have been singled out by opposition MPs in recent months for their ‘superprofits’, the CPO says the margin rate depends more on the sector of activity than on the size of the company.
Based on 2019 data, which predates recent debates on “superprofits”, the CPO estimates the average margin rate at “65% in real estate, 30% in industry, 28% in services, 24 % in services (excluding real estate) and transport and only 21% in construction.”
