Senators Olivier Rietmann (LR) and Fabien Gay (PCF) presented on Tuesday, July 8, the conclusions of the report from the inquiry commission "Transparency and Evaluation of Public Aid to Businesses: A Democratic Expectation, A Guarantee of Economic Efficiency." This commission had set out to establish the cost of public aid granted to large companies1 and their subcontractors,determine if this aid is properly evaluated, and consider possible conditionalities.
The report identifies over 2,200 mechanisms falling under the purview of the State, Social Security, local authorities, and the European Union: research tax credits, state-guaranteed loans, social security contribution exemptions, apprenticeship aid… A complex galaxy.
First difficulty: there is no transversal legal definition of public aid to businesses. INSEE does not have disaggregated data on all of these aids. In plain terms: nobody really knows how much public money is paid to businesses each year.
€211 Billion Per Year to Generate Dividends
Thus, the senators had to conduct their own calculations.They compared it with the 2020 report2 from France Stratégie (€139 to €223 billion for 2019), a figure that roughly corresponds to that calculated in May 2022 by the Lille Centre for Sociological and Economic Studies and Research, amounting to €205 billion. The Minister of Economy, interviewed by the commission, refused to update France Stratégie's evaluation, agreeing only to give an estimate of €150 billion.
The report's estimate: €211 billion in 2023,taking into account aid paid by Bpifrance, tax expenditures, social security contribution relief, and state subsidies. Two-thirds would be subsidies. This total does not even include aid paid by the regions (around €2 billion annually3), aid paid by municipalities (not quantified), and European Union aid (€9 to €10 billion according to the General Inspectorate of Finance).
These are colossal amounts. And what are businesses doing? The report cites Auchan, which benefited from €636 million in tax aid and €1.3 billion in social security contribution relief between 2013 and 2023… and which laid off 2,384 employees out of 54,000 in 2024. Or Michelin, which benefited from €32.4 million in social security contribution exemptions in 2023 and €40.4 million in research tax credits in 2024… while cutting 1,254 jobs in 2024 and paying €1.4 billion in dividends the same year.
When capitalists' organisations complain about business taxation and its impact on employment, how can one not see the hypocrisy of their statements!
When It Comes to Helping Businesses, Neoliberals Want More State
Interestingly, the report also highlights that in 2017, China supported its businesses via public or quasi-governmental funds to the tune of 330 billion dollars4. Is China, portrayed above all as a statist economy, more so than France?
In 2023, France's GDP stood at approximately 3,211 billion dollars. In 2017, China's was around 12,310 billion. Public aid to businesses thus represents 7.2% and 2.7% of GDP respectively: more than 2 times more in France than in China! If we compare to the number of inhabitants (65.3 million in France, 1,396 million in China), this amounts to 14 times higher spending per citizen in France than in China.
And yet, it is in France that there is talk of "tax fatigue," "over-regulation," and the "heaviness of the State." The Medef, in its contribution to the great national debate of 2019, denounced an "obese State,"a victim of "unbearable tax pressure" for businesses.5.
But who really benefits from public money? Those who cry out about the tax burden and preach debt reduction are in reality always demanding more public aid.It is not less State they want, but a State at their service.
- Employing more than 1,000 employees and achieving a net global turnover exceeding 450 million euros per year. ↩︎
- "Industrial Policies in France. Developments and International Comparisons" ↩︎
- Regions of France. ↩︎
- According to the American Chamber of Commerce. ↩︎
- " The Yellow Vests crisis essentially results from 'tax and regulatory fatigue,' reflecting the situation of over-taxation and over-regulation affecting everyone, households and businesses. Feelings of inequity, despite redistribution, are strong: those who receive aid are not the same as those who suffer the pressure of an obese State. " ↩︎
Illustration image: "Bercy Ministère des finances sur la Seine", photograph from April 5th, 2011, by Dinkum (CC0 1.0)
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