French Government To Push Higher Taxes in 2014

PARIS—French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici on Monday said the government plans around €6 billion ($7.87 billion) of additional taxes in 2014, as the government strives to meet its deficit-reduction targets amid weak economic growth.

The move will increase the proportion of tax revenue to GDP by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage point. Most of the €6 billion will come from higher value-added and corporate taxes, he said.

Mr. Moscovici will present France's stability program to the European Commission on Wednesday. He has already warned that France will only be able to bring down its deficit to 3% of gross domestic product next year, rather than this year, because growth will be lower than initially forecast and the government "doesn't want to conduct austerity policies" that put the economy in danger of entering recession.

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