How France works
Who carries the tax?
Taxes by economic base, the wage share of value added, and the tax rates of the richest households.
- of pay went in taxes and contributions in 2024, on average.
- of their economic income went in direct taxes for the richest 0.1% of households in 2016, before the 2018 tax reforms, on average, counting the corporate tax of the companies they control; personal taxes alone took . No official source has published these rates for a later year.
- for the 75 richest households, whose income is mostly profit kept in those companies.
Taxes
Half of all taxes are levied on work
Of the France levied in 2024, came from income from work: employer and employee contributions, and the income tax and CSG (contribution sociale généralisée, a flat tax on most income) on pay. The share was in 1995. From 1995 to 2024 the shares of consumption and capital taxes changed, and the share levied on work stayed near half.
- Labour51.5%
- Consumption24.7%
- Capital23.7%
Show the data as a table
| Component | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | €654.1bn | 51.5% |
| Consumption | €313.9bn | 24.7% |
| Capital | €301.2bn | 23.7% |
| Total | €1,269bn | 100% |
- Labour
- Consumption
- Capital
Why believe these series: · ·
Show the data as a table
| Year | Labour | Consumption | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 51.6% | 28.5% | 19.9% |
| 1996 | 50.6% | 28.6% | 20.8% |
| 1997 | 50.1% | 28.2% | 21.7% |
| 1998 | 49.7% | 27.9% | 22.4% |
| 1999 | 49.6% | 27.4% | 22.9% |
| 2000 | 49.8% | 26.5% | 23.7% |
| 2001 | 50.1% | 25.9% | 24.0% |
| 2002 | 50.6% | 26.3% | 23.0% |
| 2003 | 51.4% | 26.2% | 22.4% |
| 2004 | 50.5% | 26.2% | 23.2% |
| 2005 | 50.4% | 26.0% | 23.6% |
| 2006 | 50.2% | 25.5% | 24.3% |
| 2007 | 50.2% | 25.2% | 24.6% |
| 2008 | 50.8% | 24.9% | 24.3% |
| 2009 | 52.7% | 25.2% | 22.1% |
| 2010 | 52.5% | 25.3% | 22.2% |
| 2011 | 51.7% | 25.2% | 23.1% |
| 2012 | 51.8% | 24.8% | 23.4% |
| 2013 | 52.5% | 24.5% | 23.0% |
| 2014 | 52.8% | 24.5% | 22.6% |
| 2015 | 52.3% | 24.8% | 22.9% |
| 2016 | 52.5% | 25.1% | 22.4% |
| 2017 | 51.8% | 25.1% | 23.1% |
| 2018 | 52.1% | 25.4% | 22.5% |
| 2019 | 50.9% | 25.8% | 23.3% |
| 2020 | 51.2% | 25.2% | 23.6% |
| 2021 | 50.5% | 26.0% | 23.5% |
| 2022 | 50.4% | 24.8% | 24.8% |
| 2023 | 51.2% | 24.7% | 24.1% |
| 2024 | 51.5% | 24.7% | 23.7% |
Employers pay of the labour total, the highest share of GDP in the European Union; employees pay , and pensions and benefits . On average, pay is taxed at .
Social-security receipts by base, 1993 and 2025
Contributions were of the receipts of the basic social-security schemes in 1993 and in 2025: CSG and earmarked taxes made up for the contribution cuts on low wages. of receipts are levied on earned income, and pensions are financed at by contributions on pay.
DG TAXUD, the European Commission's tax directorate, classifies each tax by its economic base. It counts taxes on pensions as labour, and the income of the self-employed as capital.
Wages and capital
Wages and capital in value added
Employees received of value added in 1995 and in 2025. If automation or AI shifts income from wages to profits, this is the first series to show it.
- Labour
- Capital
Why believe these series: ·
Show the data as a table
| Year | Labour | Capital |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 57.1% | 39.5% |
| 1996 | 57.4% | 39.0% |
| 1997 | 56.9% | 39.3% |
| 1998 | 56.5% | 39.8% |
| 1999 | 57.0% | 39.3% |
| 2000 | 56.7% | 39.7% |
| 2001 | 56.9% | 39.8% |
| 2002 | 57.4% | 39.4% |
| 2003 | 57.5% | 39.3% |
| 2004 | 57.0% | 39.6% |
| 2005 | 56.9% | 39.5% |
| 2006 | 56.8% | 40.0% |
| 2007 | 56.1% | 40.8% |
| 2008 | 56.2% | 40.7% |
| 2009 | 57.7% | 38.9% |
| 2010 | 57.6% | 39.6% |
| 2011 | 57.7% | 39.3% |
| 2012 | 58.3% | 38.6% |
| 2013 | 58.5% | 38.8% |
| 2014 | 58.6% | 38.9% |
| 2015 | 58.3% | 39.2% |
| 2016 | 58.7% | 38.7% |
| 2017 | 59.2% | 38.4% |
| 2018 | 59.2% | 38.1% |
| 2019 | 57.8% | 38.3% |
| 2020 | 58.1% | 39.2% |
| 2021 | 58.1% | 40.0% |
| 2022 | 58.2% | 38.3% |
| 2023 | 57.1% | 39.5% |
| 2024 | 57.4% | 39.5% |
| 2025 | 57.6% | 39.3% |
Shares of gross value added at basic prices. The labour share is unadjusted: the self-employed are on the capital side, and their number changed over the period.
If it did
Suppose of value added moved from wages to capital. At today's average rate on pay, labour taxes would lose about a year. How much would come back through taxes on profits and capital income is unknown: no reliable tax rate on capital is published.
Capital
Capital, and what it pays
French households own , years of their disposable income. The richest 10% of adults hold of it, the richest 1% . About is passed on each year by inheritance and gifts. Inheritance and gift duties raise : of what is passed on.
- Inherited and given each yearEstimate of the Conseil d'analyse économique (CAE), about 2020
- Inheritance and gift dutiesCollected in 2024
Show the data as a table
| Item | Amount | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Inherited and given each year | €300bn | 2021 |
| Inheritance and gift duties | €20.8bn | 2024 |
Most inheritances pay nothing: of inheritance declarations paid any duty in 2022, and the median child heir pays . Firms passed on under a Dutreil pact are three-quarters exempt from duties. The Cour des comptes puts the cost at in 2024, against €0.5bn in the budget documents, and of it goes to the top 1% of heirs: 110 people, €30m each on average.
The very top
At the very top, income is mostly profit kept in companies the household controls, which personal taxes reach only when the profits are paid out. Counting the corporate tax those companies pay, the Institut des politiques publiques finds the overall tax rate falls as income rises past the top 0.1%:
Entering the top 0.1%
The top 0.1%, on average
The 75 richest households
The same, if all their income were taxed like wages
Personal taxes alone come to of the economic income of the 378 richest households. The site's public-money flows show no line for this: profits kept in holding companies are not income in the national accounts until they are paid out, so the top 0.1% does not appear as such in the national accounts tables this site uses.
The rates use 2016 tax data, before the wealth tax was replaced by a property tax and capital income got a flat rate in 2018. The inheritance flow is an economic estimate; declared estates are 35-40% smaller (CAE). All figures and quotes are in figures.md.