Le Pen proposes new tax on companies in France that employ foreign workers

Le Pen has already outlined her manifesto proposals for ‘French preference’, that would introduce a legal framework for discrimination against non-French citizens in areas including housing, benefits and jobs.

However in the Rassemblement National’s ‘counter budget’, produced as the government prepares to try and pass its own 2027 Budget, is a proposal that would directly impact foreigners who are already working in France.

The single-line proposal in the budget suggests the introduction of a new tax for businesses – any business that employs a worker who is not a citizen of an EU or EEA country would have to pay an extra €1,000 per year in tax for each foreign employee, on top of their normal taxes and social contributions. It would apply to any non-EU worker with a contract of more than three months in duration.

The proposal is in line with “the only form of discrimination we advocate – that based on nationality,” said RN’s Renaud Labaye.

While Le Pen’s manifesto commitments would only take effect if she won the presidential election in 2027, the RN MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy has tabled an amendment to the proposals for the 2027 Budget about to be debated in parliament to implement the €1,000 foreigner tax from January 2027.

The amendment is not supported by the government and would need to find cross-party support in the Assemblée nationale if it has only hope of being added to next year’s budget.

“Foreign labour costs society money, so it is perfectly normal to consider a tax on such hires,” said Le Pen on Wednesday while attending a livestock show. “And the essential condition, of course, is that at the end of their employment contract, these people who have come to work here return home.”

The proposal has been condemned as “economic nonsense” by business leaders.

The business organisation Les Entrepreneurs said in a statement: “This proposal amounts to nothing less than creating a new tax on a perfectly legal and already existing job, and thus driving up labour costs yet again.

“The priority must be to remove barriers to employment and competitiveness, not to create new ones.” 

They also pointed out that sectors including social care, hospitality and construction which rely heavily on foreign workers, many of whom are on low salaries, would be unable to sustain the extra costs.

Rassemblement National has already announced plans to further restrict the hiring of non-EU workers, telling Le Monde that the details would be “specified at a later date” but adding that it wants to introduce an “enforceable right to employment in favour of French nationals.”

France already has restrictions on the hiring of non-EU nationals and in certain sectors employers must prove that there is no qualified local candidate for the job before they can hire someone from a non-EU country.

Le Pen wants to take this further and exclude all non-French citizens, so that EU citizens would also face restrictions on the job market.