Paris (AFP)

"The French economy is slowly recovering," said Thursday on BFMTV the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, who ruled out the reinstatement of the ISF and any tax increase, four days after the end of confinement.

"The restart is gradual ... I prefer a restart in stages than to skip the stages and risk the interruption," said the minister faced with the risk of a second epidemic wave.

It is about "a violent, lasting crisis, the affair of years, not of months", judged Mr. Le Maire again, after a confinement which made the economy lose a third of its activity during two months.

The Minister stressed the importance of mobilizing savings for the French, who have reduced their consumption.

"This money is not made to be taxed by the state, I want us to encourage them to invest in the French economy so that it starts up again," said Le Maire.

But he added that he did not think "that lowering the VAT is the right measure for the sectors" affected by the crisis nor "the right solution for the French economy". Often cited as a way to boost consumption, it would also cost "tens of billions of euros" to public finances.

Bruno Le Maire also closed the door to a reinstatement of the wealth tax (ISF), removed in 2018 by the government, while ensuring that the latter would not reverse the tax cuts decided since 2017.

"It is very easy to restore the ISF. If I wanted to be popular, I will go tomorrow to announce (...) we will restore a + tax on the rich + and France will be better. But that is not true , it's a pure lie, it's pure demagoguery: we did it for years, it didn't work, it didn't enrich France, it didn't improve prosperity ", said the Minister of Economy and Finance.

In addition, "I do not think that going back on the tax cuts that we made would be a good choice, since on the contrary it gave results. The fiscal policy that we carried out made the country more attractive, brought investment, gave growth and prosperity, "he said.

"There is a fight more difficult to lead", it is "the taxation of the digital giants", according to Mr. Le Maire who last week called on the European Union to reopen this file while the work undertaken in the OECD framework "mark the country".

© 2020 AFP